


Daughter of the Red Hood

by fridge_magnet



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), DCeased (DC Comics), Jason Todd - Fandom, Robin (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Character Death, Family, Father-Daughter Relationship, Homelessness, Mercenaries, more to come - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:07:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 66,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22379206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fridge_magnet/pseuds/fridge_magnet
Summary: Jason Todd has a daughter that is unknown to him but to the League of the Assasins. Ra al Ghul seeks to recreate and master the effects of what happened to Jason. Jason came back from the dead but many wish to know how especially the Demon Head. He recreates the experiment using his bloodline; Jason's daughter, Rachael. Rachael has no idea who her father is but is part of the homeless youth. She travels around through some cities sometimes but eventually ends up working in Gotham on cash-only jobs. On one of these jobs, The League of Assasins breaks out the Joker to kill her after injecting her with waters from the Lazarus pits. She is buried in the same plot as Jason in his costume. The experiment works but instead, of just bringing her back from the dead it gives her an advanced healing factor. Both the Court of Owls and The League of Assasins are competing to find her when Batman gets wind of what has happened. As all look for her, she gets a job dealing for Black Mask when she first encounters the Red Hood. Batman uses his resources at the police department to become her foster family when she is arrested so he can figure out what to do.This is a terrible summary, but the story is better I promise.
Relationships: Roy Harper/Jason Todd
Comments: 20
Kudos: 37





	1. Epilogue: Four Years Ago

**Author's Note:**

> The top paragraph and the bottom are in third person view but the rest is in first-person past tense. Lots of foreshadowing in this chapter as well.

In Gotham, it only had to be about five o’clock for the city to be fully dark. The light was almost always partially blocked out by a big gaping building but the little ounce of light that shined through brought comfort to the civilians. They thought crime is unmasked but instead, the daylight just didn’t have vigilantes.  
It was about a quarter to five when a lone truck driver drove through Crime Alley. The driver partially listens to the radio but only caught a few words. “Joker”, “Arkham”, “Batman”, and “escape” are the only things that jumped out to him before he switched it off and pulled into an alley behind one of Gotham’s dock storage facilities. The truck’s arrival brought on a court of groans from the three teens hired to unload it.  
\----------------  
“I’m just saying Bruce Wayne has got to be crazy,” Alex stated as he began to pry open the back with a crowbar. He’s had the word fuck tattooed on his left hand and u-up tattooed on his right. “and working with Batman!”

I scoffed at his ridiculousness but I could tell Lola was intrigued, even if she wouldn’t say anything. “Okay I’ll humor you, why do you believe Bruce Wayne is crazy? Don’t tell me you also believe he’s Batman.”

“God no. I bet if Bruce Wayne was mugged, he throws a million dollars at the dude then has to wipe his tears with a twenty and his ass with a hundred!”  
Alex went on prying at the truck as he seemed to gather his evidence when the first drop of water hit. “Rain on a Gotham night,” I thought to myself as I uncrossed my legs and stood up on the dumpster I’d been lounging on. “The water was only going to intensify the fumes so much we were all going to require gas masks at any moment”. Lola went around to try and speak to the driver. It was getting colder and the brick walls were starting to leak sludge. “Can you just let me do it?”

“I think I know my way around a crowbar better than you!” He barked frustrated and I rolled my eyes about how wrong he was but before I could think of anything to say Lola came back. Her dark blue drugstore dyed hair and black eyeliner match the rainy mood exactly. She looked deflated but was holding a piece of paper in her hands in her striped fingerless gloves to hide it from the rain.

“The driver didn’t speak English but he had this,” she held out the piece of paper that has a four-number combination written on it and stamped from the Iceberg Lounge. “He didn’t know what was in the crates either.”

Just as she said that Alex finally got that back of the truck door opens with a large bang that made Lola jump. I felt bad for her as she instinctively pulled her hoodie over her head and almost her face as if she had been trying to hide. It hadn’t worked because Alex marched and got up in her face “This is an ask no questions job! Do you know what that means? It means we don’t ask. I don’t care if there are nuclear weapons or Happy Meals in those crates, we’re just paid to move them. If we don’t, Penguin is going to call social services on our asses or worse. Either way, it’s going to suck. I don’t feel like going back to juvie, foster care, or dying, how about you?”

Lola looked over at me with frightened brown eyes that betrayed thousands of emotions un-like my blue ones ever had. Her hands were twitching and tightening around herself. She was about to cry and wash away all her black eyeshadow and raccoon-like eyeliner so I decided to step in. “Lola, why don’t you try the combination on the garage and Alex tell us your theories on Bruce Wayne.”

Lola scurried to unlock the storage unit door behind us and Alex’s face instantly flushed with guilt. He looked down in disappointment but I nudged him before it could last long. Lola looked alright so he put on a fake smile and started hauling crates “Gross girl cuties! Okay, so you remember how Bruce Wayne’s parents died?” Lola and I nodded as she got the storage unit open, we all started hauling in crates before they could get wet, “Well the rumor is he went crazy and uses his inheritance and companies’ money to fund all of Batman’s weapons but only if Batman steals him street kids.”

“Why would Bruce want street kids?”

“Because Bruce is so lonely and depressed that he finds random kids to take up into his Manor to pamper them and give them the childhood he never had.”

“Why is that a bad thing then?”

“Because he’s getting Batman to kidnap them first and no one knows what Batman does beforehand! You know that twelve-year-old kid that tried to jack the Batmobiles tires that were never seen again?”

Lola turned around to get involved in the conversation “First of all that’s a myth that he did that, and second of all that supposedly happened sixteen years ago.”

“Yeah, well still no one saw him until he suddenly turned up as Bruce Wayne’s ward and then mysteriously died like four years later. I bet he killed himself or Bruce did.”

“Wasn’t he killed in a mugging?”

“That what Bruce Wayne said but no one saw it, and cops didn’t even find or frame a killer. Cops always do that with important people and kid was like Bruce Wayne’s son.”

The boxes were incredibly heavy and there was an occasional clicking sound that sounded like glass from inside. I tried to adjust my grip when I noticed something that would bring his whole theory down. I turned the box to reveal a giant W that baffled us all “If Batman is being funded by Wayne Industries, then why are these from them too?”  
\------------------------  
It took us about an hour to finish unloading and put away all the crates. It was dark out and Alex had promised to walk us both back to where we’d all been squatting. Alex’s brown hair was dripping wet so he shook it out like a dog all over Lola. She laughed and lightly pushed him away in a friendly gesture meaning she had forgiven him.  
I tried to explain to the driver that we were finished and he could leave but he didn’t understand. He was visibly trembling but from fear or the cold, I never knew. He didn’t leave until he heard a siren in the distance. He took off with no hesitation leaving us in the alley behind the dock’s storage center. We all gave each other a look before bursting out laughing knowing he was not a Gotham local.

“Let’s blow this popsicle stand” I laughed but was met with a joint eye roll.

“Where’d you put the lock?” Lola shouted as she searched in a frenzied sort of manner through the crates and shelves of various things in the storage locker.

“It should be on the crate closest to the door,” Alex shouted as he fished out a burner phone from his torn faded cargo pants. He had to check several pockets and pulled out multiple knives and little candies from some. He shrugged and shoved everything back into his biggest pocket having to push it down multiple times to get it to fit comfortably. “What's the number I text again?”

“That won’t be necessary,” a voice said from behind a pile of crates and out stepped Penguin followed by a gang of unknown associates. Penguin was dressed in a purple striped suit balancing the weight off his shot leg with his brass penguin headed cane. No one in Gotham knew how he got shot nor dared to ask. He was tall and lanky with his hair spiked up in a disco vampire sort of way. He looked pale and cold as he observed us. He arched an eyebrow and scanned over our work before stepping back satisfied.  
The rest of his posse was equally as weird and terrifying. 

An older man in a suit stood in front. He had dark brown hair but the sides were sprinkled with gray and so was his goatee. His eyes seemed to brown but rimmed with a glowing green that seemed inhuman. He placed his hands in front of him to show his fingers were covered in gold rings. The one on his left ring finger was the biggest and shaped like the head of a creature. His face seemed frozen in a frown but his eyes betrayed a sense of pity as if he knew something was about to occur.

Next to him stood a woman draped in armor covered in demonic looking dragons and had a sword at her side. All I had been wearing was a red hoodie and a pair of jeans that were both from Goodwill that made me feel disrespectful in her presents. Her hair was brown, long, and flowy, unlike my jet-black hair I’d cropped short with a pair of rusty kitchen scissors. I felt a hundred times uglier and undressed around her. She was dark-skinned and didn’t look to be from anywhere near Gotham. She watched us all rather curiously but seemed to linger on me the longest. Her beautiful but rather emotionless face almost sent a shiver down my spine but I didn’t show it. In some odd way though it seemed she could tell and nodded her approval at me. 

All the other members were dressed in Arkham guard uniforms but had gas masks blocking their faces with different colors spray painted over them. Some read Ha-ha while others were just random lines but they all had purple in them except for the guy in the back. He was wearing an Arkham prisoner outfit and was barefoot. He had long white feet and stained yellow toenails that seemed to never see a clipper. His feet were callous and scarred. He was wearing a regular gas mask but that seemed to have green fur sticking out. I couldn’t tell exactly where he was looking but I had to seemingly force myself to look away from him cause he seemed to be looking through me.

Lola and Alex also sensed the vibe from the group but we all formed a line in front of Penguin anyway. He smiled at us and pulled out three envelopes from his jacket pocket. “For your work today,” he went to hand us them but then pulled them back. He reached into his pocket only to pull out a couple of crumpled hundred-dollar bills, “Here, business has been good at the Lounge and you all look too skinny. Try to divide them fairly amongst yourselves, please?”

We nodded and each grabbed an envelope and began counting the cash inside. The older man scoffed at Alex’s tattooed knuckles. Alex grabbed the cash and quickly counted it up. It totaled seven hundred dollars. He handed me two hundred while he handed Lola three hundred and took the rest. Penguin nodded as if to dismiss us when Lola spoke up “Um Mr. Cobblepot?”

“Please call me Penguin”

“Mr. Penguin you paid me an extra, sir.” She gulped and Alex and I held our breaths. My eyes zeroed in on her “Why couldn’t she have just taken the money and stayed quiet!”. Lola shifted uncomfortably under his gaze as he took the envelope, recounted the money, and handed it all back to her.

“You are right! I paid you twenty-dollars extra. You know most wouldn’t even bother to tell me. Your honesty is very impressive and hard to come by in a town like this. What’s your name and how old are you?”

“Umm it’s Lucas but I go by Lola, sir.” She stuttered and then remembered the other half of the question “We’re all thirteen, sir.”

“Thank you, Lola, how would you like a job in the stockroom of the Iceberg Lounge?”

Lola looked shocked and Alex and I began to breathe again but were still staring at her. She hesitantly shook her head yes. Penguin grinned and clapped his hands together. 

“Oh good, I’ve been looking for someone with your kind of honesty and trustworthiness but also good with money to take a position in my stockroom. I promise nothing illegal,” he let out a short bark of a laugh and pulled out her business card “Here is my business card. Come by the lounge tomorrow and I’ll show you what you will be doing?”  
Lola took the card and nodded again. Alex and I took it as our cue to leave. I grabbed her hand to begin walking out and could feel she had sweated through her black lace gloves. I looked up to try and comfort her but she already had a smile on her face. Alex, on the other hand, kept looking back nervously. I’d heard Penguin had become more unpredictable with his actions and reactions since the Ridder had started working with the Mad Hatter. He worried if the Penguin was going to change his mind just as I was.  
“Wait, hold up one more thing!” the Penguin called after us and we all froze. Lola’s smile dropped off her face as we all slowly turned around in sync. He motioned his hand to Alex “She’ll need someone to work under her. The job is yours if you want it.”

Alex nodded nervously and I could see the sweat on his forehead even though Gotham never reached above sixty degrees. I knew why though, you weren’t supposed to stay at a job this long. The rule was to work and keep your head down until you left. No one would have dared to converse with a Gotham villain anyways and would have never taken a permanent job position from them. It wasn’t like Penguin to go around handing jobs out either. His demeanor seemed different from what I had seen on the news or heard from other street kids. Usually, he wouldn’t bother to look at them or had a very standoffish attitude and was known to fly off the handle at any given moment. He was also known to be very stingy with money. Tonight though he showed none of that. 

He stood tall and supported himself with his cane rather than his usual slouch. He looked thinner than he did on the news and looked tired. Under his eyes was an alight violet hue that could almost be mistaken for makeup if you didn’t look close enough. He was wringing his hand nervously. The Penguin kept straightening his posture and glancing back nervously at his group. It was almost if one wrong move would kill him and by the look of the group, it would. Instead, he was trying to impress them. His movements were more extravagant and drawn out even for him. 

Then we all once again turned around and started to hurry to the door. We were opening the garage that led out to the alley when the old man spoke up for the first time. He had been whispering to the women beside him but that time he spoke directly to us “Rachael? Would you please stay behind?” 

I gulped and Alex looked at me confused. No one ever called me by my first name and there was no way Penguin or his group would have known it. Lola’s eyes grew wide with fear. We had the garage open and I could have run but the men in Arkham uniforms looked like they’d already anticipated that I would try that though. They all placed their left foot forward in unison and leaned forward as if they were preparing for a marathon. Their hands lingered near their waste and that’s when I realized they all had swords. 

“I’ll catch up with you guys later,” I said and started to walk over to them. My skin itches with goosebumps and I felt all my neck tingle. Suddenly my arm had been jerked but I barely felt it in my fear-induced paralyzed state. It was Lola. Her eyes seemed to have doubled in size and her acrylic painted nails dug into my skin hard that I almost let out a yelp. I tried to keep calm but the look on Lola’s face told me I could never win a game of poker. I felt instant regret as I slowly shook away from her grasp, “Catch you guys for dinner.” 

Lola gave me a sympathetic smile and Alex let out a short laugh that sounded more like a wounded dog bark. “Catch you for dinner” has always been an inside joke between street kids since there never really ever was a dinner, breakfast, or anything in between. Her eyes started to tear up as Alex placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her away from me. 

“Cool, see you later,” he said giving a quick handshake. In the middle of the handshake though he slid a closed pocket knife up my sleeve. We both exchanged a knowing nod as I slipped it into my red hoodie pocket and walked over to the group. They waited for the garage door to close as I brainstormed theories. Homeless kids went missing all the time, especially girls, but usually never on a job. Most of the time if a kid was grabbed off the street it was by Batman or a cop but the boss of the job would always pay for their release within a couple of hours. Either that or they were killed by an opposing villain or mob boss. Never were they called out by name to walk to their death. They weren’t important enough. I didn’t want to find out why though. 

The older man whispered something to guards in gas masks. The guards went over to Penguin and gripped his arm. I could tell it wasn’t hard but hard enough to send the message of “it would be in your best interest to do what I say”. Penguin grumbled to himself a little before shaking the man's hand off of him but then started walking to the door. As he reached it he grabbed a sack off one of the crates that the men must have put there when they first walked in. He shook it and then opened it. The contents caused a green glow over his face and his eyes grew hungry before he composed himself again. He gave a sly nod towards us and spun around real dramatic like to exit.  
“Ever heard of a man named Jason Peter Todd?” The older man started but the woman next to him looked as if she wanted to say something. She sighed and held up a picture. The photo was taken in sort of a mugshot fashion and had faded quite a bit. There wasn’t much to make out because the photo was yellowing, but I could tell the man looked young but his eyes looked tired. He had jet black hair but the top was salted with white. Not gray like from old age but stark white like someone had duped flower in his hair. His eyes were very peculiar as in the sense they were not blue but also not green. If you could say the colors mixed would be a stretch because the green seemed to have ringed only around the ends and the iris. The man looked miserable and almost like a caged animal waiting to be either hit or fed. Even from his photo, he radiated pent up rage but also sorrow though he didn’t look like someone who would accept pity. His gaze seemed piercing and full of disappointment that I turned my head before shaking it. “No, well that's too bad. Guess you live with your mother then?”

Again I shook my head and the lady arched her eyebrow as to prompt me to say more. I intentionally bit my lip to remind myself what an idiot mood was but I accidentally bit it so hard that I started to taste blood. They know no one would be expecting me home. They know no one would look for me. My mind descends into chaos as I try to think of an explanation but it only draws up blanks. Then on the white sheet of ideas, I find one scribbled on the farthest corner in invisible ink. “She’s in Belle Reve,” I blurted out before I thought of any other information to go along with the lie. “Drug possession and armed robbery” 

It was a total lie but the man seemed to buy it. He nodded calmly as I had just told him what the weather was like. The women, on the other hand, narrowed her eyebrows. She huffed and then, before I even saw her do it, used her foot and swept under my feet. I was knocked backward and could feel my head hitting the pavement. The blood in my mouth thickened as I made the coward’s decision to stay on the ground. My ears burned as she whispered in them with her hot breath “Do not lie to the Demon’s Head”

I lifted my head. My eyes widened as if something clicked into my mind. A piece of a never-ending puzzle that I foolishly thought I could solve with only one piece, “You guys are a fucking cult?” 

She struck me again and the blood in my mouth came so overwhelmingly that I had to spit it out. I spit in right onto the pant leg of the man’s suit. The woman’s face, only beautiful and emotionless less than five minutes ago, flashed with hate and rage as she raised her hand to strike again. I didn’t even bother to shield myself from the anticipated attack. Instead, I held her gaze and started noticing more than I had before. She held my gaze but her shoulders repositioned like she was uncomfortable at me looking at her. The man raised his hand slowly to signal her to stop but he made it clear that he had been in no hurry to stop her. She looked at him and her eyebrow twitched in frustration. She never showed much emotion for long and it was mostly in only small movements except when I spit on the man’s suit. 

I smiled up at her and could feel the blood coating my teeth. I hadn’t quite grasped the extent of the situation, but still knew I was in for a beating no matter what. They seemed to have been bounty hunters when they had first shown the picture but the demon’s head thing had thrown me off. Whoever the photo man in the photo seemed to be worth a lot to them though. I tried to use what I mistook for desperation to my advantage. My eyes lowered as I slowly raised my hands “Wait! I know where he is. He’s….. he is,” My brain sparked and fizzed as I tried to think of a story. The women’s eyes twitched “working for Falcone!” 

A hand crashes down before my already swelling up eye could close. My face burned as my lungs screamed out. My body curled in on myself and fell into a fetal position. I could feel my eyes well up with tears as I laid on the storage room floor. The concrete floor scraped against my arm and the side of my face. My body braced for the next blow but it didn’t come immediately. I didn’t move until I heard heavy breathing right beside my ear. I slowly looked up to find a terrifying sight. 

Next to me was the man in the prison outfit. His gas mask was still over his face but his green hair was mangled and sticking out in different places. He looked like a guerilla with the way he was crouched down beside me with his head turned and balancing on his knuckles. His head was almost next to mine but his nasty toenail was cutting into my forehead with how I had turned to look at him. He as on all fours observing quietly only seeming to communicate with his face which was hidden behind the mask. But even though it was hidden I could feel his eyes on me. The concrete grew colder as I continued to look back. They felt mesmerizing but terrifying as I continued to search the dark mask for an answer. It was like watching a dog fight in the frosted glass; you know it’s terrible but once you start watching you have to know how it would end. Behind him, the older man had held the woman’s hand up as he’d grabbed her but they were both frozen fixated on the guerrilla man. The guerrilla man moved his arm, which looks like just a bone from his body with how white and unhealthy skinny it was, and stroked my hair softly. He smelt of the Gotham ports and something unfamiliar. Whatever it had been was messing with my senses and making me feel tired. It didn’t help that I was being petted like a wounded animal about to be put out of its misery. Even under the circumstances and with every instinct in the body telling me not to, I slowly began to unhitch my back and slowly open up my shell to get a better glimpse at hm. 

Without even the tick of the second hand, his demeanor grew drastically. His hand tightened around a chunk of my hand and bashed my head against the concrete. He let out a signature laugh that could be heard from anywhere in Gotham as he pulled off the gas mask. It had only been limiting the true power of his eyes. The dogs grew into massive monarchies fighting with forever evolving technology. His eyes were surrounded by wrinkles but they looked more alive them ever as they dance with his notorious grin. His lips were chapped and broken to the point where the bottom one had started bleeding a while back only leaving behind the dry blood on his lips. In my ghostly state, my mind could only focus on that tiny ounce of blood on his lips. It was all that I could think of through the pain as I wondered “how uncomfortable he may feel or if he completely didn’t notice. Had he left there for aesthetics or had it happen when he had been broken out and there was no time for him to treat it?”. Did he even care about his appearance? His yellow ghetto-rock smile gave me my answer. 

The blood in my mouth was welcome with a new wave which I was forced to drool out as the room spun I could barely make out the room as a whole but barely any little details. The only thing I did notice was one of the lackeys had knocked over one of the crates we had worked so hard to bring in. My heart sank as I saw the tiny little glass vials roll away exploring the warehouse with the very little momentum they had. One rolled near the Joker’s foot and time seemed to slow down as I focused on it. There was only a simple black rabbit on the side that looked like it was going through a tsunami of blood as the context sloshed around inside of the glass. It held my attention as my brain faded everything out. The different shades of red and how they looked under the warehouses cheap yellow lighting could have held my attention for hours. How it took so much to unload such a tiny thing that we had to sit out waiting and praying we didn’t get caught wondering what the hell it even was. That felt like ages ago that it was almost funny. Almost funny how just two hours could feel like a decade in your head. I looked up at the Joker and wondered how he perceived time. Just something about how he’s movements were timed; like how he’d be so lagged and jerky and you thought he was swimming in cement but then he’d move so fast you could barely see. “That plus his unpredictable must have been what Batman found so captive about him” 

“Poor little plain Jane,” the Joker scampered to the corner on his hands and sang quietly to himself “Waiting for the batty man to swoop in to save the day” 

The Demon’s Head observed me with caution until something changed in his eye. He snapped his fingers and the guards fell into line. They had been scattered to avoid the Joker’s gaze. Their uniforms smelled even mildewy and sour than the prison suit. Then his mask fell off and they froze paralyzed. I almost couldn’t even comprehend what I was staring at until he looked me straight in the eyes. His skin was even whiter than his feet that it seemed to be stretched and wrinkled. It wasn’t until he looked sideways at the guards that his face wasn’t physically attached to his head but instead stapled at the sides. His hands twitched and his head darted back to me like he’d felt me staring. It took everything I had to look away as he guerrilla walked towards me. 

The Joker was only 5 feet away from me when the Demon’s Head raised his hand again to stop him. The Joker collapsed into a criss-cross position and studied me with murderous curiosity. The old man snapped his fingers and the women appeared with a large syringe next to him. It was almost three times the size of a normal syringe and was filled with a green luminescent liquid. Despite everything I instantly moved away from her and closer to the Joker. She stepped closer and I attempted to get up to run. I pushed my weight up and spun into one of the guards. He grabbed my arms and turned me towards the women as I screamed. I struggled against his tightening grip as she grew closer but then remembered Alex’s knife. It was still in my sleeve. 

The knife slipped it to my left hand and I stabbed the guard. He fell back and the gas mask made an echoing sound when he hit the floor. My feet beat against the floor as I started running. I ran to the door only to realize Penguin had locked it. I pulled against it and shoved all my weight and power to try and pry it open but the second I felt a sharp prick in my neck I knew it was over. I twisted my head against the woman’s grip to get a better look at her. She was very beautiful even in the midst of everything. Her face looked calm but conflicted as she emptied the contents of the syringe. She leaned into my ear and whispered into my ear whatever something that made my whole body feel the need to shake whenever I remembered.

“Be cleansed by the pit of Lazarus” 

Whatever had been in the syringe made my head feel even more nauseous than it had already had been. My knees wobbled as I tried to desperately keep my balance. My eyes started to cry again and all my thoughts were fuzzy. The only thing I could think of was the waste of mascara. I’d accepted my fate at that point but the waste of mascara bothered me. I’d picked it off a red hair librarian while hiding out from the rain. She’d seemed so nice that I almost felt bad about taking it but I barely had any makeup of my own that my guilt had evaporated. I just took it out of her purse and left the library. I got soaked but it seemed worth it at that moment. “She wouldn’t miss it too much and could buy another cause I left her wallet” I reasoned with myself but now I’d wasted it. That's the only thing my mind could focus on as I heard something metal hit the ground.  
“We want to replicate his death as close as possible but only with one variable changed. It has been changed so we will leave you to do your work.” 

The sound of metal scraped against the floor became closer and I snapped out of my head. I turned only to see the joker in mid-lunge. The edges of his face moved when he moved and he had an even larger menacing grin on his face. He swung the metal object and hit me across the face with such force that I was knocked across the room. He wasn't hesitant to run over and tower over me like in sort of a god-like way. 

“Well, this brings back memories of old Boy-Blunder. Maybe you’ll stay down!” He let out loud bark like laughter and raised the metal object over his head. It was a crowbar. Alex must have left it outside from us moving the boxes. I shut my eyes as it crashed down into the side of my temple.  
____________________________________________________________________________  
“It’s done, my darlings” The Joker sang from inside and Talia al Ghul looked over at her father. He had been deep in thought but had been snapped out of it. He tossed a black bag at his warriors who were changing out of the Arkham guard outfits they had stolen in the breakout. One of the men grabbed the bag but only silently nodded to Rah al Ghul. They’d already been instructed on what to do but it still shocked her how they did it with no hesitation. That's what they had been trained to do though. They were trained to be calm and emotionless. She portrayed the same range but the girl’s eyes bothered her. She kept remembering the way she kept looking up at her in terror and fascination. Not much laid on her conscience often did linger though as they would months. As the assassin walked past the window where something red and forest green could be seen from a reflection of the window. 

It was only a thirty-minute drive to the cemetery. The entry gates were made of large, metal, and rusty. The car is completely silent inside but the spirits outside are anything but. Whenever it rains, the ghosts are said to come out and welcome the new members. They wait at the gate ready to welcome any who enter no matter their sins. For everyone sins in Gotham but tonight, the air tastes different. They stare daggers and stalk the car as it drives past. It stops in front of a stone headstone at the very corner of the graveyard and Rah Al Ghul steps out. The spirits glare but he stared right back sensing their angry presence. He instructs his league to start digging as he stares down at the name on the headstone. It's since been damaged and there is no security to guard it. Nothing remains but a memory, a caution tail, and rebirth.  
Plenty of members in his league have headstones somewhere in the world. In cemeteries near their mourning families back with their old lives. The first thing that all members do is dig their own graves. He watches them sweat as they believe he’s about to kill him but they still obey. In a way, he does kill them by asking them to lie down and climb out anew. But known has ever been physically resurrected before. None now what it's like to go beyond the threshold and crawl their way back. None like Jason Peter Todd.  
As he thought of the boy his fist clench as he looked towards the city. Somewhere his experiment was in there. Amongst them pretending to be one of them. But he didn’t matter anymore though. Rah Al Ghul removed the girl’s body from the car he placed her gently into the abandoned casket that remained. It wasn’t the original but Jason had gone to great lengths to replicate it. He smiled down at the girl and placed a black domino mask onto her face. His experiment was ready and she was a spitting image of the original. “Like father like daughter as they say,” he thought as he walked back to the car as her body was lowered and the casket was reburied. 

His own daughter sat completely straight and poised as he entered the car. She only nodded and whispered to herself“And now we wait”


	2. Court of Owls and Sins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman, Red Robin, and Robin listen in on a Court of Owls meeting when something goes wrong and Bruce finds out about Rachael.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set 2 years after the epilogue. Also, the Robins are older.

In the heart of Gotham laid what outsiders assumed was an abandoned golden cathedral. It overlooked the small but only park in Gotham. It’s dome-like stained glass roof allowed light to reflect onto the park at some parts of the day making it a nice place to read or get a small breath from the darkness. No one knew exactly what was inside the cathedral though. The skyscrapers that surrounded it blocked any helicopter from flying over and getting an overhead view. Even the meticulously placed windows were blacked out. It’s what made them stand out against the gold patterned exterior. That and they were unbreakable. No matter how many rocks or bricks were thrown they’d never shatter. No one could ever break the old key lock on the 25ft black brass doors either. There was a large balcony that went all around the building but no one could see any doors going into the building though or seen anyone ever on it. The balconies wall had statues of owls perched. Many claimed that they saw their eyes move sometimes but the balcony was too high up for anyone to climb on. Though few did try to break in because many believed that the building was cursed and guarded by the giant owl statue in mid-flight some claimed could come to life.  
The building was surrounded by rumors. It was a whisper amongst the homeless youth that it was where those who really ran Gotham were. Some believed that a group of powerful individuals stood behind the large black windows puppeteering the citizens of Gotham. They dawn masks like vigilantes to control and destroy what had needed to be dealt with. Watched over the city as deformed guardian angels. A council of the wealthy that stood to keep Lady Gotham protected from themselves. They seemed impossible though with the way Gotham was operated. Except for the fact that they were all true.

The wealthy and most prominent formed the Council of Owls hours after the first brick had been laid on the land Gotham was to be on before it was even a notion in the people’s head. They pounded the idea into their heads, fooling them into believing it was their own. The Court remained anonymous with members passing down masquerade masks covered in feathers of the owl their ancestors had to strangle as insurance. The cathedral had been one of the first things built by the court founders; the Waynes. The first generation of Waynes built Gotham with their own hands, funds, and intentions for the Court. 

Their idea of Gotham running smoothly didn’t matter about the people it matters about their money. If their money was still in the flow then Gotham was running smoothly. It didn’t matter who thought they ran Gotham as long as they didn’t mess up their money trail. If any officer had dared look into anyone’s money trail or bank statements they’d come up completely clean. Their charity donations that just traced back into their company made them the city's stars. Each one of them lived a double life. A Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde behind each mask. The kind-hearted philanthropist with a bright smile hiding a greedy sociopath in a masquerade costume. They didn’t care about the casualties left behind by costumed villains but still preached about how strong-willed Gotham was. They profited off the damage and it was usually just a footnote in the Courts meeting. There were only two cases that ever required the Court's attention; The Spirit of the Goat and the Joker. No one remembers which time but whenever he’s active they were all on edge. The man seemed to have no particular reason why he did anything. He wasn’t fueled by cash like the others and couldn’t be paid off. No one argued that he was sane but no one could dispute that he wasn’t in a sick twisted way a genius. That is what scared the Court the most. 

When the clock in the center of the park chimed midnight the previous empty street was filled with black herses. Couples dressed in their most fabulous jewels and expensive attire walked in pairs up to the cathedral. Women's dresses were all floor length and their hands were covered in elbow-length fur clothes. Their hair stacked up or covered with flamboyant hats. Men’s suits were stiff and had long tails. Their hair was slicked back with gel and their shoes were shined. Rings and necklaces shined under the spotlight as each couple passed under it. Each member seemed wildly different than each other though. Many were of different races or same-sex couples but all had an owl masquerade mask.  
Their demeanor was calm and cool as they waited for the doors to open. None moved as two men in gold owl armor flipped off the roof from where they had been perched stalking. The men silently inserted a key into the lock and the Court members stayed silent as the sound of gears churning threatened to break it. As the doors opened with a large bang, one woman in the back jumped and gripped her husband’s hand. Her husband shook off her hand and glared at her threatening. He wanted no one to have seen him or his wife show any emotion much less fear and none of the Court members did. The only two that noticed were the three watchers from the nearby rooftops cloaked by the darkness.  
Batman silently scooped out the scene from the building top left of the Court’s building. His senses were on high alert because the Court had called an emergency meeting. It was very rare that the court strayed from their schedule which meant something was wrong. He could see the tenseness in most of the members' shoulders. They didn’t know why they were there but they thought the others did. Not one daring to speak up or question the Court. Most hadn’t even wanted to join the Court. They were forced to by inheritance and their name. Handed down a mask of their ancestors' sins and threatened with their lives and the lives of their families. Very few actually found a thrill in it. Batman observed that their posture was calm and relaxed. They wore their masks with pride as they strode up to the building. 

Robin silently crept closer to the left of the building while Red Robin took the right. They had avoided each other a lot and there was a lot of underlying tension between them. Bruce hadn’t really any idea why because he hadn’t noticed until Dick had brought it up a couple of nights ago when he had been researching an ongoing case. He hadn’t really even noticed than since he was so focused on the computer that he really didn’t give much thought to Dick's words at the time. He’d noticed while preparing for that night's patrol though. Dick had declined to go and asked Tim to cover for him so since it was his son, Daniel, had a basketball game that he and Barbra were going to. That meant he would be down a man in the field but as well as their lookout. Tim had only shrugged and muttered “fine” instead of his normal coffee-fueled rant. Damian, who was also usually vocal about his opinions, stayed quiet as well. He didn’t make any excuses for why Dick should come and why he would be needed. He nodded and just went back to training which was odd since Dick was his favorite person to patrol with and they were supposed to patrol that night. As well as on the way to stake out the Court of Owls, Damian had gotten in the backseat of the Batmobile instead of arguing with Tim about how he should have been in the front seat. The ride itself had been in complete silence with Tim listening to music and typing an essay for one of his college classes on his phone. Bruce didn’t bother pointing out that it wasn't protocol or saying that he should pay attention but he thought Damian would have at least jumped on the chance to pester his brother. Instead, Damian stayed silently in the back staring out the window in deep thought. The only thing Bruce could think of at that moment was how much they reminded him of himself. He couldn’t tell whether he should be proud or worried. 

The members herded into the building like sheep as the owl-armored assassins instructed and they locked the brass doors behind them. Batman made his way to the Court’s balcony by grappling across the park. The first time he’d used a grappling hook it had come unhooked mid-swing causing him to fall twenty feet straight into the mattresses Alfred had dragged out on to the lawn after he insisted he didn’t need them. Before he swung he always made sure to pull on the rope a couple of times to make sure it was secure and he’d taught his prodigies to do the same. Red Robin hadn’t even really glanced at where his rope had ended up before swinging across in clear view. Robin followed but hadn’t even bothered to glance at all. Bruce scrunched his eyebrows under his cowl and made a mental note to talk to him later. Whatever was going on with him and Damian they needed to remember to not let it affect Robin and Red Robin. 

Robin and Red Robin had reached the balcony before him and had started cutting a small hole in one of the windows using a glass cutter. They hadn’t waited and he glared at them but if they had felt the pressure of his stare at all they didn’t acknowledge it. They barely acknowledged him. Red Robin was having immense trouble cutting the glass and started to become frustrated and trying to cut faster making more noise. Bruce decided to cut in. 

“Stop,” He angrily whispered and Red Robin stood up, turned, and glared at him from behind the cowl of his own. It was like he’d started a staring contest he knew he couldn’t win as he felt Tim stare at him, daring him to comment. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, the both of you. But don’t let it affect your duties. These aren’t regular windows, which you know, and a glass cutter isn’t going to cut them, which you should know, but you went..” 

Before Batman could finish they all froze at the sound of glass shattering. The sound had been small and most people wouldn’t have been able to hear but the Court grew silent below. Robin had been crouched by the hole and had slipped a mic through to listen to. A shard of glass had gotten knocked out of place and fell into the building. 

The balcony was only for show and was too high to actually be reached by what looked like a theater below. Large balconies of bronze stood high in a circle around a stage in the middle. Members looked over their balconies sipping something from a crystalized wine glass that's cost could have paid a whole apartment building heat during the winter for a month. The carpets were dark red mahogany and the walls were a deep red. Completely opposite from the outside. The stage had several spotlights and was positioned under a massive chandelier. The chandelier’s structure was made of bone and covered in different bronze, silver, and gold owls. Some owls sat preached as if they were studying the members were some were chasing rats and toying with their food. It stood as a symbol of what each member did; toying with the poor. The stage was completely gold with a single podium on it. 

A woman stood preaching to the court with two men in owl armor behind her. Her mask was more elaborate than the others and silently moved when she made hand motions but never moved enough for anyone to identify her. Her dress was dark red and was just a long cocktail dress. She didn’t need to impress the people she bossed. Her fur gloves reached higher than her elbows so they wrinkled whenever she made dramatic movements. Her hair was styled high and threatened to topple as she danced through her speech. Damian couldn’t hear what she was saying but every once in awhile he read her lips saying something about an “asset”.  
The second the glass hit she froze. Her eyes darted to each balcony and studied everyone as a suspect. She then snapped her fingers to the men in armor, Talons is what the Court nicknamed them, to go search for the source. They flocked with no hesitation pulling out large swords from where they were sheathed on their belts. They ducked into an unknown entrance but Robin knew they’d be coming to look on the balcony soon.  
Batman glared at Red Robin who only matched his gaze before breaking to come up with a plan. “We need to go before the court finds us here.”

“We haven’t caught a lead on their meeting times in months and now they are having an emergency meeting,” Red Robin argued as Batman prepared his grappling hook, “This may be our only chance to get any real answers on the Court!”

Robin joined into the argument as well “We don’t know what their asset is, Father. If we just”

“Yeah, this may have been our only chance to figure out what they’re planning but you two ruined that! I don’t know what's wrong with you two tonight but you need to get your act together.” Batman growled and grappled off the roof expecting them to follow. Instead, though they both looked at each other and grappled onto another roof. They started walking away. 

“Where do you think you’re going” Batman growled again into his com but only saw Red Robin turn his off. Damian looked back at him and their eyes locked for a solid minute before turning his off as well. Batman’s clenched his fists and almost went after them. He debated whether that was the right move or to have Barbra turn their coms back on via Bluetooth before remembering she’d taken the night off. He mentally kicked himself before he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“Hello Lover,” Talia al-Ghoul playfully said as she looked in the direction Robin had gone before getting serious “I need your help”

“No”

“You haven’t even heard what I’m asking yet,” she asked smugly before continuing “Besides it’s about your son.”

“What about Damian?”

“I’m not talking about my son, Damian,” Talia made sure to emphasize the “my son” part. Batman racked his brain with what she could be asking about that had to due with Dick or Tim. Dick was his own man and had gone to great lengths to prove that he wasn’t living Bruce’s shadow; including running away to the Titans. Talia knew all this and knew that Dick was involved she should ask him. Tim, on the other hand, did not have his sort of reputation with most people but if anyone knew to take him seriously it was Ra’s al Ghul. Batman knew that if he should ask Tim for anything to go to him or send Talia or an assassin to ask him not Batman. He tried to think of what she could be referring to but his mind came up empty. “Well, it’s about Jason’s daughter anyway.”

“Jason doesn’t have a daughter” 

“Well not one he was made aware of,” Talia said nonchalantly before pulling out a file and getting serious, “Please find her before the League or the Court of Owls do, they consider her an asset. It's the least we both owe to her mother.”

She was about to disappear before Batman grabbed her arm before she could. He pulled her in front of him and eyed his hand in annoyance. Then he began to squeeze but she didn’t flinch “Who’s the mother then and why don’t you want the League to find her?”

“My father has a goal to live forever, as you know. The Lazarus Pit waters only do so much so when we heard about what happened to Jason and him returning from the dead,” Batman flinched at the mention of his former son's death. He hadn’t talked to him in over a year but Tim had when he was trying to study the effects of the Lazarus Pit. According to his ongoing file, it said Jason hardly remembered feeling in control over his action when he first came back to Gotham though he didn’t say he regretted almost any of it. Tim did note that he apologized for attacking him but still called him Replacement and that they weren’t on great terms at all. The only reason Jason had even talked to him was that he’d tried to quickly apologize and tried to offer to pay for the damage. Tim refused the money claiming he hadn’t needed it but instead wagered an hour of Jason’s time. Batman didn’t know if they had been in contact after that though. Tim’s notes were very specific about Jason’s facial movements, body language, and tone throughout the conversation. He’d even compared an old photo of Jason when he was fourteen to a more recent one noting his eyes were greener and that the scar in front of his left ear was gone. Tim wrote that he didn’t know where Jason had gotten the scar and he wouldn’t tell him so there was no way of knowing if it healed because of time or the pit. Jason had once told Bruce that he’d gotten the scar from an accident when Bruce first took him in but later told him it was from being hit with a broken beer bottle when he was eight. He claimed it was an accident but Bruce still had the memory of him saying it like he was trying to convince himself more than Bruce. “He decided to replicate the experiment, as he called it, but added the power of the Pit’s waters.”

Bruce flipped through the file as she talked. Ra’s al Ghul had been quite extensive in his research and detailed about his theories. He read the graphic details of his “experiment” down to where they buried her. There was nothing after that though. There was very little on Jason’s daughter, Rachael, besides last known places and at the very front was her birth certificate. He stopped himself looking for a second because he knew he couldn’t tell Jason about her right away. He knew he had to find out if she was a threat or how the pits had affected her.. On the other hand though, if he waited too long to tell Jason then it would destroy their relationship. He also saw who the mother was and then the last photo taken of Rachael. She had black hair just like Jason had as well as his eyes. She had her mother’s dimples and long lashes though. Her skin looked pale and sickly which went hand in hand with how skinny she was. At that moment something clicked inside him. He needed to help Rachael to help his son, Jason, who he hadn’t even bothered to think of when Talia brought up his son. He’d ignored him and let him suffer on his own while he was only a mile away protecting his territory. He had no backup or overhead eyes watching him in his efforts to save Crime Alley. He was all alone except for maybe Arsenal who sometimes visited him. It was on the news and each time Ollie texted Bruce in a panic asking him to talk to Roy, Bruce never did though but instead ignored him. He ignored everyone to the point that maybe he couldn’t go back. This girl was going to help him find his way back.

“She was last seen in what you refer to as “Crime Alley”,” Talia put air quotes around “Crime Alley”, “Working as a drug dealer for someone called Black Mask. You really need to stop with these silly names, Lover.” 

Batman rolled his eyes under his cowl and released her arm. She went to the edge of the roof before turning and derailing his train of thought again and tossed him a small parcel. He could feel something circular in it that felt like a belt. She said in a sad voice “Would you give this to Damian from me? I heard you got him a dog and I couldn’t think of anything else to get him. Just tell him that I hope he has a happy seventeenth birthday”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Sorry, it's kind of short but I've busy. Please let me know you're thought. Next chapter Rachael will meet Jason or well not really. She'll meet the Red Hood but either way it should be up sometimes next Friday.


	3. Rooftop Plunge

It was only ten at night but the streets were mostly clear of anyone who would be considered a citizen. Women of the evening strolled up and down the street sometimes stopping to talk to a potential John. Their clothes weren’t very flamboyant nor did they look like anything Vicky Vale described when she described the streets of Gotham. Vicky Vale had done a whole story where she went undercover as a prostitute or claimed to. Anyone who really lived in or near Crime Alley knew she’d just made it up. She made them out to be neon leather-wearing, drug-addicted, selfish, and loose moral women when many were sober and had children to feed. Single mothers that strapped on heels and wore normal but revealing clothes to walk up and down a couple of streets in pairs so they would be semi-safe. They recognized a lot of the folks and even kept mental notes about what some of the homeless and youth needed. Some were known for giving away their old kid clothes and toys that their children had outgrown to mothers and those expecting. Some even let women and children stay in their homes when it was especially cold. Not many let men but that wasn’t uncommon. They knew everyone who was a regular on their block and I knew most of them for as long as I remember. 

One of the girls, Aubrey but went Honey, whose block was in Black Masks territory used to be my neighbor when I was five and my mom was living with one of her boyfriends. I don’t even remember his name but I did remember Aubrey. She was only nineteen when I lived there but she used to let me hang out in her apartment whenever mom was fighting with her boyfriend or not home at all. My mom used to insist it wasn’t necessary but Aubrey always claimed she was happy to hang out with me. She worked as a waitress in the day at a diner in the nicer parts of town and would sometimes bring me back pieces of pie they were going to throw out. She always remembered that I hated strawberries but loved the pumpkin. Her fridge always had a can of whip cream that she’d squirt in our mouths before squirting on the pie. Her tv also had cable so sometimes she’d find movies for us to watch and she’d let me sleepover especially if things were really bad. I remember one time my mom didn’t come home for almost a week and Aubrey let me stay with her. She even showed me her favorite Disney movie, Finding Nemo, which I was instantly obsessed with. 

Aubrey was also a really talented artist. I used to sit and watch her paint and draw for hours. She’d always say that I could watch tv if I wanted but I always wanted to watch her. Sometimes she’d take little scraps of loose-leaf paper and teach me how to draw cartoon characters. My favorite for her to draw was Nemo who I would color with different colors than were in the movie. The only time that I would use orange as if I was making a rainbow fish, which Aubrey would say looked better than the one in the movie. Her counter had a jar in it that said money for art supplies that she’d put her change in. I wasn’t allowed to touch it but I used to put in any loose coins I found in between my mom’s boyfriend’s couch. He used to yell at my mom excusing her of stealing the change and Aubrey and I would hear it through the walls. Aubrey would always ask me if I took it in a calm non-accusing voice but I’d always lie and say I hadn’t. She’d just nod her head and take me into her bedroom which doubled as her art studio to teach me how to draw more Disney characters.

I’d only started working with Black Mask about a month ago but he already assigned me a whole block to work off of. It was probably because the Red Hood had been moving in on his territory but I still took it as a good sign. Black Mask didn’t completely leave me alone though. He said that his dealers traveled in pairs similar to prostitutes that way if they were ever caught one would take the fall while the other took the merchandise and ran. He claimed that he assigned partners based on age and other stuff like they did police partners because you were supposed to feel like you could trust them but I never really believed that. It was assigned on how expendable you were like your locations and teens were more expendable and less suspicious. My last partner had only been fifteen, a year younger than me, but was picked up by Batman while trying to rob a Gothamite downtown while she was shopping the week before. He’d only pickpocketed her wallet when she hadn’t been looking leaving her designer bags and shoes she’d just bought but Batman still caught him by throwing a Batarang next to his head before hauling off to juvie. I thought he said his name was Joe once but never asked him after I’d forgotten his name. I was supposed to be meeting the new guy today and picked this location because Aubrey was working that night and I knew the area like the back of my hand. 

It was freezing and all I had was a bright red hoodie and a couple of shirts on. I knew the hoodie made me stand out more but it was borderline freezing outside. I’d lost my original red hoodie and I managed to find another similar one in a free clothes bin in Starling City. It wasn’t the same but it was familiar and was even lined with fleece. My cheeks burned and I could see my breath as I walked through the street trying to find the meeting point. My nose started to get runny and my eyes were a little watery but I just wiped them on my sleeve leaving behind a gross yellow strand of snot. I gagged but just wiped it on the brick corner of one of the apartment buildings. Despite how cold it was there were a lot of people outside; probably because they had nowhere to go. On one of the building stoops, someone was playing the guitar. I couldn't recognize the song but the tune sounded familiar and I’d seen him out on the stoop before. I dropped three dollars into the guitar case in front of him and he gave me a polite nod. He was ex-military and was missing a leg. I didn’t know how but Alex had said he stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan. Alex said a lot of things through that he claimed he’d heard. 

Penguin had traded him to Black Mask seven months ago and he’d shimmied his way up the grapevine. I’d only been back in Gotham for a couple of weeks but Alex had gotten me a job in less than two weeks of my return. He’s also letting me stay where he had been squatting. I think he blames himself for my disappearance but I keep reassuring him that he wasn’t. I’d been gone for two years and could tell that he wanted to ask where I had been but didn’t want to upset me. Whenever he tried to bring up the topic I felt like I couldn’t talk though. My hands fidgeted and I bounced my knee up and down trying to figure out a way to answer him. For the first year I had been in Gotham but for six months I didn’t even really remember where I’d been. Whenever I thought of it my mouth felt dry and sore like I was dehydrated. My lungs felt weighted down like something was pushing down on them making it hard to breathe. I’d told him about how I remembered waking up in a hospital in Central City hooked to a bunch of machines. I didn’t tell him anything after that besides coming home to Gotham. The truth was that that had been four months ago and I hadn’t gone straight to Gotham. 

“You better watch out, my dear,” came a voice from down the alleyway I’d passed. I stopped and turned only to be almost mowed over by a shopping cart. I jumped out of the way but it still caught my heel. “That’s why I said watch out.” 

It was an old lady pushing a shopping cart full of clothes on hangers. They looked old and wrinkled but like once they had been fancy. Everything was frayed and lost its color from time and the elements. Dresses' bottoms were draped over the cart dragging along on the sidewalk and getting ruined. She wasn’t pushing around the clothes though I realised. In the middle of the clothes draped in the fabric were several cats and kittens struggling to stay warm. The bigger cats were all bunched around the kittens trying to keep up their body heat. The old woman covered them in more fabric layers. Her hands were wrinkled and saggy but her face seemed untouched by time. There were no wrinkles but there was a huge surgery scar above her left eye. Her hair was gray and unwashed. At some point, she’d braided several rat tails into her hair that had since become tangled in with the rest of her hair and were falling apart. Unlike the clothes in her chart, she wore a man's shirt but the logo that was half ripped off and a large straight striped skirt that was too long and dragged on the ground threatening to trip her. She stopped her chart and walked around to get close to my face. Her breath smelled of rotten fish. I felt the need to squirm under her gaze “Let me see your heel, dear. This chart has been known to take out some of the best dealers in the town's skin. Even clipped that Riddlers heel once but boy was he polite about. Such a gentleman. His mama raised him right.” 

I was going to say something about personally having met the Riddler and that he robbed banks for a living but kept quiet. He was the type to go out of his way to help a woman, even if she’d just hacked off half his heel with her shopping cart. The old woman bent down with a large grown to examine my ankle. I started to protest but she just glared at me until I stayed quiet. She picked my ankle up off the ground and I almost fell backward but kept my balance. She pulled and twisted my ankle until I had to grip onto a lampost to keep upright. I looked down at the time on the burner phone in my pocket. “Um… I’ve got to go. I’m going to be late but thank you though” 

She stood up with no trouble this time but got straight into my face again. For some reason, I didn’t feel uncomfortable around her very much as I had before. “You’re oddly fine. I hit you pretty hard so you should be bleeding, screaming and doing the whole shebang,” I didn’t know how to respond but I didn’t have to cause she kept talking “You’re socks covered in fresh blood but you’ll live. Just watch out for him,” she paused again for more of the theatrical effect “The Red Hood!” 

The war veteran stopped strumming his guitar “Ms. DeLevious, you know he hasn’t killed anyone in over two years. Made some deal with Batman after that whole ordeal with the Joker.” I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up at the mention of the name. It had been two years since I’d seen him but every time he was brought up I could see his blood-chilling smile in the back of my mind and the way his skin was scrunched up against his face gave me goosebumps on my arm. Ms. DeLevious waved her hand at him and said in a serious tone. 

“Once a killer, always a killer”

They continued arguing about the Red Hood’s moral standing while I slipped away. Ms. DeLevious was certainly quite the character and highly doubted what she said about running into the Red Hood. As I walked lost in thought about what she had said at him always being a killer I didn’t realize somehow had been calling. Suddenly there was a tap on my shoulder and I grabbed the tire iron from my hoodie pocket and swung it around. A boy that couldn’t have been over sixteen lost his balance and fell back. He landed on his butt and elbows but still raised his hands to show he didn’t have anything. He started to choke on his words when he tried to talk “I, ugh, I was supposed to meet a girl here. I mean not for anything weird. I mean I’m not like that. What I mean is I’m not trying to do anything to you. I just thought you were her. I’m really sorry.” 

He stuttered on and on trying to make it clear that he thought I was who he was meeting and that he hadn’t meant to alarm me. I lowered the tire iron and laughed. He looked up in confusion. His brown hair had fallen out of place from his fall. His hazel brown eyes scanned me like a math equation he couldn't solve. He had tanned skin but a lot of brown freckles flicked over his nose. He was wearing a teal hoodie which made him stick out like a sore thumb as I did. Not so good for a pair of drug dealers trying to fly under the radar. “Are you Black Masks new dealer?”

“Yeah,” he answered standing up flustered. He was taller than me by a couple of inches. “Damn,” I thought to myself ‘he’s hot as hell”. As if he could hear what I was thinking he gave me a goofy cute smile. Somehow his teeth were white despite probably being homeless. He laughed “So you are Rachael,” I nodded and he gave another awkward laugh “This is a great first impression. Those are my specialties.” 

He took a dramatic bow and I burst out laughing. Once I started laughing he started laughing as well. I was the dumbest joke but for some reason, we both stood there laughing like a pair of idiots. After we finally calmed down and I caught my breath I started trying to get information on him. “If you’re so good at introductions then why don’t I know your name?”

He tossed me a heavy black bag and proceeded to laugh again, “Cause I never told you but it’s Dixie,” he laughed when I gave him an odd look “ I think my mama thought she was having a girl but couldn’t think of another name when this,” he flexed his biceps and I snorted again “happened.”

I started ruffling through the black bag. It was full of Vertigo. It had only been two weeks since Black Mask went into business with Count Vertigo and he’s been pushing the stuff hard. There was some of the more usual stuff at the bottom but it was mostly Vertigo. But while Black Mask pushed the cops cracked down. They say how it affected Starling City and how they arrested the homeless in dozens and hoped they could do the same with Gotham. “So can I call you Winn-Dixie?”

“Why?”

“Have you ever read Winn-Dixie? I read it once in elementary school,” I said and Dixie shook his head “It’s about a girl and her dog named Winn-Dixie.”

Dixie jumped up on a nearby crate and dramatically looked down on me “Are you calling me a dog?” He pretended to ponder the idea while stroking his nonexistent beard. Then he bowed and jumped off the crate “Well I grant thee my permission to dub me Winn-Dixie but in return, thou must be dubbed with a nickname of my choosing.” 

A tall man with greying jet black stringy long hair came out from around the corner. I was surprised we hadn’t smelt his coming before cause he stank of booze and cigarettes. His hands were shaking and his arms were covered in scratches. It looked like his skin was about to fall off with how loose and red it was. He would occasionally twitch and his nose was dripping watery liquid. We instantly stopped laughing and fell silent. He stepped closer and I instinctively stepped in front of Dixie. “You’re them,” He stopped to gasp for air and his nose started bleeding. He wiped it on his already bloodstained sleeve before holding out the same You have it. I need it” 

He began throwing us dollar bills which Dixie picked up and counted. He mouthed that it was twenty-four dollars. We seemed to stop and debate with our eyes whether or not we should give the guy anything because of his condition. Eventually, we came to an understanding that we had to and it wasn’t our fault. It was but it's so easy to rid yourself of fault if you feel you have to do something. I pulled out three syringes of Vertigo and he lunged at them. Dixie pushed him back and he ran after once he had the product. We looked at each other and shivered. An awkward blanket of silence fell over us as we helped the next few stable customers. We sold out of everything besides a couple of Vertigo syringes. When it seemed like hours after we’d helped the man I finally broke it. “So what was the nickname?” 

Dixie glanced over at me as he counted and packed the money away. He stopped and started circling me looking up and down. I couldn’t help but start laughing again as he listed his observations “You’re a shorty,” I flipped him off and he shrugged and continued naming random attributes and features until he said, “You got a tragic backstory with a side of gravy.” 

“I don’t have a tragic backstory” I started to say but he cut me off. 

“I got it! And yes you do,” He danced around happily then proudly announced “Lemures” 

“Lemures?” I asked, “What the fuck does that mean?” 

“It’s like these dead creatures in Roman mythology,” he gestured to the ground as I raised an eyebrow “You know because everyone thought you were dead and it sounds super badass. I mean not to sound weird I asked around about you. I hope that's not creepy. I wasn’t trying to be creepy..” The heavy feeling in my chest came back when he talked about everyone thinking I was dead. My breath started to speed up and everything felt hot. He could see that I was uncomfortable and stopped talking immediately like he knew he said something wrong. 

“Sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt you,” I said and he gave me a kind smile but didn’t say anything “ So you like Roman mythology?”

“Yeah, “ He laughed and dug through his pockets and pulled out a tiny flip notebook that looked like it was a party favor from the bright pink peace sign on the rainbow leopard cover. He saw me eyeing in a wiggled his eyebrows “Nice score, right? I got it out of the alley behind this arcade in the mall. They leave out dumb stuff like this and sometimes leftover food for people. It’s awesome! But sometimes during the day I go to the library and read. I write down everything that I think is cool. This redheaded librarian introduced me to this awesome book of monsters and stuff” He started flipping through the notebook and I couldn’t help but smile. He was much cooler than Joe What's-his-name. He stopped and looked at me, “What are you smiling at? Thought I was a dumbass.” 

“You are,” said a deep voice from the back of the alley. It was so deep that it had to be fake. We stopped laughing and stood frozen staring at where the voice came from. For a second I’d almost convinced myself that it had been my imagination until he stepped out closer so we could take him out in the dark. “Only dumbasses deal on my territory without my permission” 

The Red Hood stood tall in the middle of the alley. He was a lot taller than both of us and twice as muscular. His hood reflected a bit of light off a nearby street lamp that created a spotlight on the wall. He was wearing a brown leather jacket with various weapons in pockets sewn into the lining but had a holster around his belt. None of his skin or anything was exposed but I had stories that he had black hair. Only those who knew that for sure cause they were most likely dead. He only took off his helmet if absolutely necessary to turn it into a makeshift bomb. He was crazy enough to walk around with a bomb on his head. I felt like there should have been some theme song like Darth Vader had when he entered because of the amount of power he radiated. There was a red bat across his chest but everyone knew he wasn’t a bat. He had no mercy. I felt the urge to run but couldn’t move my feet cause I was so mesmerized. Dixie tugged my hand and I came to my senses.

We took off running down the alley faster than the Flash. Dixie knocked over a few trash cans to try and slow him down until we realized he was chasing us from the rooftops. A car was coming but we still bolted across the street. The driver swerved and nicked my side pretty good. The Red Hood just stood there watching from the rooftop across the street. It seemed like a game to him. Like Batman and Robin took out the big bosses and villains while he dealt with all the side quests. There had been rumors of him knowing Batman but they probably weren’t on good terms if he was forced to push out low-level dealers in his crusade against Black Mask. The hood covered his face and was expressionless but something about him made me think that all he could think was “Was this what I was reduced to?” 

We ducked into an alley before the Red Hood got across the street. Dixie opened up the dumpster and jumped in. He motioned me to follow but I heard the swish of the Hoods grappling hook. He was coming. I shook my head and started opening the black bag “What are you doing?” Dixie barked as he pulled on my arm to get in the dumpster. 

“Trust me,” I said while shaking my head no. He looked at me for a minute searching for an inch of sanity but apparently could find any because he nodded. I dumped the last syringes into the dumpster and slammed it closed. The Red Hood rounded the corner as I was trying to climb onto the dumpster to reach the apartment complex’s t fire escape it was pushed up against that led to the roof. He was on the ground this time. As he came closer I used all my strength to boost myself up. My arms wobbled under my weight but I was able to swing my leg up and pull myself on top of the dumpster. I jumped up to pull down the fire escape ladder and ran up it. The Hood took the bait and followed. Dixie was safe from both the Red Hood and Black Mask. Black Mask had a temper and tended to not like when his dealers lost business due to cops or vigilante. 

When I got onto the roof I realized I didn’t have a plan. My main focus had been on Dixie not what I’d do after. I stopped and looked around about where to go but both the three surrounding buildings were much taller and would have been impossible to scale. I debated on jumping down from the building but it was a ten-story jump and the Hood was blocking the only safe route down. I could have probably survived the jump with my “abilities” but I hadn’t wanted to risk it. 

“You’re cornered, kid,” the Red Hood said standing in front of the fire escape. He held out his hand gesturing towards the black bag. “Give me the bag and I will try to help you.”  
I gripped the bag tighter next to my side. There was no way out so I did the only thing I could think of. I slowly began to raise my hands in surrender but at the same time, the Red Hood decided to fire a warning shot. Everything seemed to slow down as I felt a burning sensation go through the palm of my hand before it was gone. The pain evaporated after a couple of seconds but it had still been enough to make me drop the bag and grab my hand. It was over and I fell to my knees holding my bleeding hand. I couldn’t feel anything at all after a minute but it spooked the Hood. The Red Hood put away his gun and ran over. He laid his hand on my shoulder as he crouched next to me. 

“Let me see your hand,” he said gentler in less of a robotic voice. His hand started to rub circles in my back. “You gotta let me see, kid. There’s no way to heal that without a doctor.” 

I stayed silent on my knees. I didn’t know how to respond. My head started to zone out as he talked. I felt my hand and it was almost healed, which was impossible. A bullet had gone completely through it but the whole had already contracted three sizes. As I was ignoring him he started to try and stand me up. I reacted without thinking and pushed him. My freshly healed hand must have caught him off guard and he stumbled back tripping over the edge. I let out a mixture of a half cry half scream and ran to the edge. All I could think about was the fact that I had just killed someone. That I was going to look over the edge and see the Red Hood’s body. See him alone dying in an alley. Wondering if he would be surrounded in a pool of blood because his head cracked open or if the helmet had protected him. Maybe the helmet would go off when he died and blow up the whole building killing Dixie and the residents in the apartment building. So many thoughts went through my head as my eyes started to well up with tears. “I’d just killed a man”. 

I looked over the edge expecting to see a dead man but there was nobody. I looked around desperately trying to figure where the Hood had fallen. My eyes were blurry with tears and the quality of everything had been turned down. My knees buckled and I sat down to cry. I curled my hands under the back of my knees and put my head down to cry. It felt like I’d met Dixie a year ago rather than a couple of hours. Nothing seemed to have ever happened but this. My stomach hurt and my arms were covered in goosebumps. My jeans were suctioned to my legs. The cold mixed with my tears making everything worse but I still couldn’t move. I could have just walked home scot-free but I couldn’t stand up. It felt like if I moved I would throw up. His fall was just replaying through my head as well as “Once a killer, always a killer”. There were no memories before today. Suddenly there was a hand on my shoulder but I ignored it assuming it was only Dixie. 

“Kid,” said an unrecognizable voice. I looked up and was met with the Red Hood kneeling in front of me. My hand was still out of his view. “Why didn’t you run?” 

I sort of just gaped at him for a couple of seconds pondering over the question. It sort of left me speechless. I wiped my tears and nose off on my hoodie sleeve. “Cause I fucking killed you!” 

His expression was hidden by his helmet but I could tell he was thinking, “It takes a lot more than ten stories to kill me. Also, I gave you twenty minutes to see what you’d do. You’ve got to get medical help for that hand.” 

“No need,” I said, raising my hand while using the other to stand up. It didn’t even make him flinch “I’m really sorry. I thought you’d just fall back not off the edge. I didn’t”

He cut me off by taking off his leather jacket and putting it around my shoulders. It still had all his weapons in it. “Believe me, worst has happened but usually drug dealers don’t stick around after. How old are you anyway? You’re clearly not old enough to be out here surrounded by crack addicts,” I muttered sixteen and he laughed, “I usually go easy on kids that's why I let you have time to run but I guess I got to take you in. Don’t worry I’ve got a friend at CPS that’s actually good at her job” 

I’d stopped crying and laughed “You fucking shot me and no one at CPS does their job”

“Well you’re fine and I was going to get you medical attention so it’s the thought that counts. Also, she does. Her name is Laura. She actually helped me. I give her a list of approved foster homes about every month. She then sends over the worst of the worst but that millionaire adopts all the regular kids, ” He joked but then got serious “She’ll help you but I’ve got to ask. How are you okay?” 

My eyes shifted down and he could tell I didn’t want to talk about so he didn’t push the issue. He just helped me off the roof in silence and took me to the police precinct. When we got there he showed me how to get on the roof without making any noise “How do you know how to do this?” 

“I used to come here a lot as a kid” What kid hung out on the roof of a police station? I was going to ask about what he meant but we were interrupted by Commissioner Gordan with an army of cops behind. The cops glared at him and I heard him groan under his helmet. It almost made me laugh. The Commissioner looked me up and down twitching his mustache and then at the Hood. “Hey Commiss, lot more gray hairs than last week but hey we can’t all be youthful” 

“Hood” was his only response before grabbing my arm “ANother possession charge I’m guessing? I hadn’t seen you in a while so I figured you had gotten your act together. I guess not.” He pulled me into the precinct leaving the Hood speechless on the rooftop. It was big and expensive but no one was doing anything worth anything. Cops sat around chit-chatting or teasing the people in the large cell at the back of the building. I expected to be locked up in it but the Commissioner just pulled me past it. He pulled me past a small brunette cop that eagerly chased after him. 

“Is this the girl that Bruce Wayne asked about?” The Commissioner just nodded and pulled me into the interrogation room. He left shutting the door behind him. It was locked and I was left alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry it's late but I hope you enjoyed!


	4. Interrogation of Memory Lane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachael getting interrogated by Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Bullock along with finding out shes Bruce Wayne's new foster kid. She also recalls a memory of when she first started to realize she could heal fast.

The interrogation room is bleak and boring. The walls are dark grey with one side being a large black one-way window. Someone could have been observing from the other side but there wasn’t that much to see. There was only a table and two chairs. The table had a bar on it for handcuffs. I don’t know why I’m not handcuffed to the table but limited freedom sort of seems worse. If I was in cuffs then I knew I’d be heading to juvie for sure but now it was up for a gamble. Maybe Laura, the woman the Red Hood had mentioned, would help me. I’d seen him get on the phone as Commissioner Gordan dragged me away. 

The Red Hood seemed very passionate about letting Laura help me even going as far as saying she’d helped him. It seemed weird to think that the Red Hood had been a street kid. Gordan had taken his jacket when he marched me through the precinct. It seemed colder in the interrogation room than it was outside. It may have been because my face had been tear-stained and the cold air was blowing on it though. My body felt tired and slow after all the crying and I bet my face was all red. With nothing else to do but wait I put my head down on the table facing the one-way glass. 

“Hey, dirtbag.” A heavy object slammed on the table in front of me causing me to raise my head. A large man with a brownish gingerish goatee and a cigarette stood staring down at me. Not only did the cigarette smell of heavy smoke but he did as well which made the room feel stuffy. He had a brown hat and a brown suit jacket but he wasn’t dressed fancy more handsomely homeless. Next to him, Gordon was just texting on his phone. “Tell us what you know about Roman Sionis, A.K.A Black Mask.” He spits out the abbreviation though. I’d never heard Black Mask’s real name but it seemed to make him less scary or maybe more. I couldn’t decide cause it made him more tangible and not just boogie man whispered about on the streets. 

“Geez Gordan, did you leave me in here so long because you’ve been trying to figure out how to use the keyboard?” His partner growled but Gordan just sighed. Even after two years he still knew the routine. I’d never been into the interrogation room but I’d been in the cell outside. Honestly, the interrogation room was worst but I was still able to crack a joke at his expense and he’d roll his eyes. It had been like that since the moment I met him when I was twelve. He caught me trying to steal tires off a car in Crime Alley. The first thing I did was call him fat but he let me go because he thought I could change with a warning. The next week I got the shit beaten out of me but his officers for graffiti. 

“Relax Bullock,” Gordan said putting his phone away then addressing me “If you have to know I was texting my daughter about you” I must have scrunched up my nose in confusion or something cause then he added “and Bruce Wayne” like that cleared everything up. 

Bullock cut in “How do you know Bruce Wayne?”

“I don’t” 

“Well, clearly you do because he issued a missing person report about you just four hours ago” 

“But I don’t” I insisted and Bullock rolled his eyes whilst taking another drag at the cigarette. I didn’t know how to feel about him since he hadn’t done anything but yell at me. That might have been because his boss was in the room but I decided to test the waters anyway “Can I get a drag?” 

He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and offered me the other end with a sly look on his face. The end was wet and had fragments of what looked like pastry. I gulped down a gag. He didn’t back down from the challenge and kept offering it. He kept getting closer and closer to my mouth shaking it urging me to take it until Gordon stepped in when he was an inch away. He’d been enjoying watching me try not to squirm. “Harvey that’s enough” I must have looked ridiculous with puffy eyes, red face, and squirming away from a disgusting cigarette because he let out a bark that sounded vaguely like a laugh at the end. The smoke smudged up his glasses which he wiped off on the inside of his tan suit jacket. “Do you know Bruce Wayne?” 

I shook my head no and he continued “Well he’s offered to become your foster parent for the time being but I need some information first” 

“So do I! Why did Bruce file a missing person report on me?” 

Gordan sighed again but ignored me all the same “Are you working with Black Mask?” I shook my head no trying not to look guilty. He knew I was probably lying but continued with his questioning. He asked a lot about Black Mask which I stayed silent about and about some of my former offensives. There was a lot that led me to question why I wasn’t in jail and instead to a billionaire’s manor.

“You wanna go to juvie? Here I got some handcuffs and a squad car outback” Bullock cut in. He gestured to the handcuffs hooked around his waist. I nodded and held my wrist out like a joke but then Gordan decided to cuff me for real. He took his handcuffs and tightened them around my wrist to the point I couldn’t even move them and I felt like I was losing blood flow in my fingers. It wasn’t standard protocol but by the look on Gordan’s face, he didn’t care. Guess there were no good guys in Gotham. 

“Sorry about the cuffs but you’ve been known to jump out of moving cars,” He sighed and stood me up “Harvey can you get a car ready?” 

Harvey nodded and I rolled my eyes “That was one time!”

“Three, actually” 

“Okay, maybe two but the cuffs are unnecessary,” I said but Gordan ignored me and went back to typing on his phone. I felt like just grabbing it to chuck it right back in his face but the handcuffs prevented me. Detective Bullock came back but only to take Gordon out of the room to talk to him privately. My fingers felt heavy and sort of like they were buzzing with television static but I went to work trying to get the cuffs off. All comics and shows I’d seen the characters just popped their wrists out of the sockets and slid the cuffs off before popping their wrist back in place. That wasn’t as easy as it looked though. I couldn’t get my wrists to pop out of place and even if I managed to move the bone a bit it would automatically heal.

I didn’t know why but I had been healing unnatural fast for the last three months. I’d first figured it out in Metropolis. I’d caught a bus from Star City to Metropolis because my friend in Star City had bailed and left me nowhere to go but the next time. When I first started living on the streets when I was nine a girl named Daniella helped me out. She was seven years old and one of the kindest people I knew but she never admitted it. She was a badass that everyone stayed clear of. She had blonde hair and green piercing eyes that told you to stay clear of her. When I was little I used to think that she was like Black Canary but she always hated that. Her family had lived in Star City before they lived in Gotham or orphaned her after a pyromantic fire. Only once did she tell me she’d ever met Black canary and that she hated her but I never brought up the comparison again. She never gave any specifics of the situation but even when I was little I could still pick up on tone. I’d hated Black Canary since though. Daniella hitchhiked out of Gotham about three years ago to Metropolis but I never found her there. I checked everywhere in that city before I got a lead from a waitress on the outskirts of the city. She’d eaten there but the only reason the waitress recognized her is that she called the cops after she left with two sketchy looking men in their black van. She’d filed a police report but the girl was never found. It haunted her ever since that she could have done more. 

The police didn’t know anything either but they let me look through their notes on the case which would never happen in Gotham. They seemed open and gave me their thoughts on the case. Two cops seemed most interested in why I was looking into the case. My stomach churned whenever they questioned my reasons and where my family was. I lied about my situation but they seemed persistent. I got out of there but then I saw it. The undercover vans for sting operations were black sort of like the ones. At the time the idea seemed physical but had no surreal evidence. That’s when it hit me. A long black police riot stick in the back of the neck. My head began to spin and I could feel my brain wanting to shift away from the injury. My eyelids felt heavy and my knees locked until I eventually fell unconscious. The scene felt all too familiar to me. 

It was dark when I woke up but whether it was night or the room I was in had no windows I didn’t know. My eyes took a while to adjust even though I kept blinking to try to get my vision in focus. The room was cold but somehow still humid which made everything feel sticky. I needed to rub my eyes but my hands wouldn’t move. They were zip-tied to an old wooden chair that was slowly giving me splinters. As I struggled against the restraints the two cops came back. One had a camera in one hand and was using the other to push a trolley of medical equipment. He was much taller and muscular than his partner who seemed to be calling the shots. He was the muscle. His partner was holding a gun but that was about the only thing intimidating about him. In all honesty, his face looked like a kindergarten drew a rat face on a triangle and the Blue Fairy brought it to life. 

“A Gothimte street rat?” said the rat-man ironically. I tried to look surprised and confused like I didn’t know what he was talking about but he just pulled a file out from under the medical trolley “You’re accent give it away along with all in the police files along that contain your medical history. Good news is you get to sign up to be an organ donor before you fail your drivers' test” 

The other one rolled the cart up beside me and looked down “She’s very plain”

“As long as she’s got organs she doesn’t have to be pretty” 

The rat man began examining and sharpening the medical equipment while the muscle began snapping photos of me. The flash was on which made my eyes even worse. He kept getting frustrated and his lips would twitch whenever I’d blink or look away. His hands were shaking as he’d move my hair out of my face. 

The rat man finally got done cleaning and preparing his tools. He gestured to his partner who dropped the camera and scampered behind him like a kicked dog, “Knock her out,” the bigger one raised his fists with a surprised look on his face. His partner just looked annoyed again gestured t him to put his hands down “With the aerosol, you idiot” 

Both of them strapped on N95 respirator masks over their face and the muscle pulled out a can of aerosol. When he sprayed it I wasn’t knocked completely unconscious immediately. Instead, my head just felt even dizzier than it already had been. My vision became even more blurry until I felt like I was spinning even though I was still trapped in the chair. The only thing I wanted was for the spinning to stop because I felt like I was going to puke. Then it did, along with everything else when my vision went black. It was only peaceful. 

“I need another IV,” was what broke the silence. There was a bunch of beeping and sounds around me that just added to the consistency of the soup that was my brain. I couldn’t feel a thing and all I could taste was egg. It was more like hard-boiled eggs which I hadn’t eaten since I was seven. My stomach felt weird and there was a weird dryness in the back of my throat. Everything made me feel like I was going to puke. “Here’s a bucket sweetie.” 

I opened my eyes and a tall brown-haired woman was leaning over me. She was studying me intensely behind her monocle glasses to the point I just want to be absorbed into the hospital gurney I was lying on. Everything in my body felt heavy and the hospital room was too blinding to properly keep my eyes open. Everything was bright white and shiny. The women moved into my vision to block out the room. “Hey sweetie, can you hear me? You were in a bad accident,” I mumbled something to myself and she took it as a sign of me listening to her. “I’m Dr. Leslie Thompkins. Can you tell me you’re name?”

I ignored her question but picked up on her similar accent. It was like mine but much more posh “You’re from Gotham, aren’t you?”

She nodded gently and then asked “You’re a long way from Gotham. Do you know how you got here?”

“I got my fucking organs stolen”

At this point, Dr. Thompkins could tell I wasn’t having any of her baby talks and that I may not have understood my situation completely “All your organs are completely intact. There’s not even a scratch on you. We found you in a park covered in blood unconscious. Do you know how you got there?” 

At that point, I just told her everything. Everything that happened at the police station and warehouse. She listened calmly as I explained I was looking for Daniella and even had someone bring me hot chocolate. After I was done, a sketch artist and a police officer came in to get details. They asked me everything twice even after I’d told them everything that had happened. Dr. Thompkins stayed with me the entire time though occasionally giving my arm a reassuring squeeze or a pat on the back. After my statement was given and the officials left Dr. Thompkins turned to me. 

“Can you do me a favor and tell your story just one more time?” 

I let out a kind of sarcastic laugh and laid my head back on the pillow “I mean sure but you’ve heard it three times already. Think you’d know it by now unless you have amnesia which in that cause you really shouldn’t be a doctor.” 

She laughed but we both knew it wasn’t that funny. I was tired and couldn’t think straight with all the medication they’d given me when I was out. Weirdly, I felt like I needed more except they said I was fine. No one ever actually told me how long I’d been out. They’d only told me that I’d been put on a bunch of medication but they had to do multiple IV tracks because they could never find the others. It was a laughing matter between the doctors but you could tell by the tone of their voice they were freaked out by the fact and the no missing organs. They ran my blood sample against the ones found on my clothes and it was a match but there weren't any wounds or even a scrape on my body though. 

“No, I want you to tell my friends,” She paused whilst opening the window. “Well more of my friend’s friends” 

There was a whipping sound from outside of the window followed by the sound of metal sliding against metal. Suddenly three figures started coming through the window. The first was a man in a green hood and mask with a goatee. He had a bow and quiver strapped to his back and blonde in his arms. The girl was decked head to toe in leather and fishnets with her hair blowing in the wind. Green Arrow and Black Canary. They both looked mean and hardened by the look on their faces. When they saw me in the hospital bed they tried to look friendlier but failed miserably. The way they entered the window in a grand gesture made it seem like I should be honored to meet them because they were Justice League heroes but I couldn’t help to not roll my eyes at them. 

As I rolled my eyes Black Canary’s face went back into a scowl as another man climbed into the window laughing his head off. He was younger than Green Arrow but dressed similarly. He had red hair that was messy and stuffed under a Starling City Rockets hat and different arrows in his quiver. I’d never seen him before on the Justice League but they knew him. Now it was Black Canary’s turn to roll her eyes at him but that just made him laugh harder. The Green Arrow tapped his foot impatiently while Dr. Thompkins stifled a giggle. Finally, the red-haired man composed himself “You kid are my new favorite person! By the way, I’m Red Arrow,” He emphasized his name which sort of sounded sarcastic as he comically reached out to shake my hand. I took it and he pulled me close to whisper into my ear “Between us their just two overgrown babies in leather but I matter-of-factly am the world's greatest babysitter. I’ll sit on all the babies” 

I laughed and he went and stood behind Black Canary farthest from Green Arrow. Despite his fun personality and goofy smile, you could still sense some tension. Black Canary repeated the same questions the officers had but this time had photos of the whole Starling City police squad and anyone working near law enforcement so it was easier to identify. “Did you point out your attacker to the police squad that was here?” she asked 

“I mean I described them but it’s not like their going to do anything about it” 

Green Arrow spoke up for the first time “Why do you think that?”

“Their cops,” I said like the answer was obvious but they didn’t get it “Everyone knows that cops stick together and don’t arrest their own. If two are in on it then you have to bet there twenty more in on it as well.”

Green Arrow looked like he was going to defend the SCPD but stopped when Red Arrow nodded understandingly “I’m sorry about your friend but as you’ve probably guessed there have been countless others just like her that we don’t even know about. You’re helping us stop that. I’ve got a daughter your age and if anything like this would have happened to her it would have killed me. I’ll help get justice for her family. Do you know how we can get into contact with them?” 

I tensed up at someone else showing sympathy towards Daniella. No one had said anything about her besides asking her name and whether or not someone filed a police report. Red Arrow looked me in the eyes in genuine appreciation while Green Arrow stood speechless on the other side of the room. I knew she had family in National City but she hadn’t seen them in years. Her family in Gotham was almost nonexistent and she wouldn’t want them to know anything about where she was even in death. “She’s got family in National City but not like a direct family because she lives,” I caught myself and corrected the error “she lived in Gotham.”

Red Arrow nodded gently again and placed his hand on my shoulder. His glove was made of some weird material that felt oddly warm. “Now I know you might not want to talk about it but can you explain..” He didn’t know how to phrase what he was saying so the Green Arrow. 

“How are you alive with all your organs untampered with surrounded by a pool of blood big enough to kill a horse.” By the tone of his voice, he didn’t trust me. Red Arrow looked back at him quickly. He was probably glaring at him but I could only see the back of his head. Black Canary was glaring right at him but he was waiting for an answer.

“Um, I don’t know. A miracle,” I said sarcastically and Green Arrow just narrowed his eyes more. Black Canary pulled him towards the window though and they both jumped out of it followed by the sound I’d heard earlier. Red Arrow said goodbye, thanked me and even hugged me before following. After he left though I turned back to Dr. Thompkins “What happens now?”

“Hopefully Green Arrow finds our culprit but in the meantime, CPS is going to take you back to Gotham and place you with a foster family unless you have a family of your own?” I didn’t need to shake my head for her to know the answer. It was an awkward silence until she got a text on her phone “Oh the social workers downstairs! I’m going to go meet her. Why don’t you stay here and get dressed.” She left me to change and figure out what to do. I couldn’t go back into foster care but if I tried to leave about a million nurses would stop me. There had to be another way out. Then I remembered the window Red Arrow had used. 

The fall itself was kind of peaceful. Somehow in mid-air, I shifted over onto my back so I wasn’t facing the ground but the sky. The sky seemed even more beautiful falling twenty stories. Somehow I felt I was going to be okay though. It was a weird thought but I knew everything was going to be okay even when I smashed straight through the roof of the Honda on the street. I didn’t feel anything as I picked myself out of the wreckage but tingly. My wrist was bleeding pretty bad but as I observed it healed itself magically. I just stared at in wonder until a bystander screamed. Doctors and nurses were flooding out of the building to see what happened. Dr. Thompkins and a lady in a pantsuit came running out as well. 

Suddenly people started crowding me to see if I was okay. My brain was still trying to process everything that had even happened in the last twenty hours so it was a sensory overload. I just started running. I hadn’t grabbed any shoes so I just ran barefoot through bits of broken glass crying for no apparent reason. There was a reason but I didn’t know it. I just knew that I had to keep running and running and running. 

I was shaken out of my memory when Commissioner Gordon came back to get me. He silently escorted me to a cop car out front but instead of putting me in the back he put me in the front though still handcuffed to the gloves box. I quietly looked out of the window as he put on some soft music and hummed to himself as he drove. 

“You know it’s about lunch. Bruce got his butler to make us all something so I’m going to be there when you meet his whole family. I know what you’re thinking and I know the rumors but the Wayne’s aren’t like that. If they were I wouldn’t have let my daughter marry one,” he chuckled to himself before adding “You’ll like Alfred’s cooking and it’s only temporary for now”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's so late!!!!!! But please like it means a lot to me.


	5. Silent Meeting

No one would ever dare to call Wayne Manor small. They probably couldn’t even think of anything smaller than the Sandringham House to compare it to but it definitely wasn’t the Sandringham House in the slightest. The outside was made of a combination of dark shiny oak and red brick giving the house an old Victorian vibe as it stood around six stories high towering overall. I’d always imagined it as sort of a castle but it was really more of a manor like in the name. There were no coned roofs or white marble-like a castle but there was a huge oak door and it was too tall to see the actual shape of the roof. My neck couldn’t even bend back far enough to see the full thing when we rolled up down the stone driveway.

There were a variety of different cars with different listings parked outside in a large loop. There was a statue of a large man-bat in the middle of the circular roundabout surrounded by some greenery. It was like the scary stuff you see out of movies about evil millionaires “If that ain’t a sign he’s in league with the Batman you need to get your bloody eyes checked.

Gordon rolled his eyes “That statue has been here long before Batman ever appeared. It’s been in the Wayne family for decades now.”

“But still. Having some sort of giant statue in your driveway should be a sign of a psychopath!”

Gordon stopped the car and I tried to use my elbow to flick open the handle since I was still cuffed to the dash but Gordon locked it. He turned to me with a serious and quite tired look “ The Wayne Family has been looking over the city for decades. I’ve been friends with the Wayne’s for a while and even let my daughter marry one. I wouldn’t do that if I knew for sure that she’d be safe.”

“What about Jason Todd? Bruce Wayne’s mysteriously dead son”

“Jason died in a tragic mugging,” Gordon said, growing quiet and I sort of regretted bringing the topic up “It broke Bruce completely for months and I’m still not sure if he’s entirely fixed. There’s no way he could be though. Losing a kid is every parent’s worst nightmare. Bruce blamed himself for taking in Jason thinking he put a live target on his back. He still thinks it’s his fault but if he hadn’t taken Jason it would have happened sooner.”

“Everyone thinks Bruce killed him,” I said insensitively trying to Gordon to argue with me or portray some other emotion than sadness. It was bumming me out but the way by the way he was talking and I just wanted to take the piss out of him for putting me in another foster home. “I think he’s either still alive and mentally fucked or Bruce beat him to death with a meat cleaver for misbehaving” 

“Don’t,” Gordan said holding out his hand and getting out of his car. He took a moment to take a breath of fresh air before addressing me again “I was at the funeral. I saw the aftermath. Gotham may have their theories but none of them are true. Bruce was hounded by reporters the second he stepped off the funeral grounds four hours after the funeral because he just stayed there with his son not wanting to face the world. Not wanting to face people like you.”

“If he doesn’t want to face me then why is he offering to foster me?” I sarcastically shot back and Gordon just slammed the door making his way up to Wayne’s prison entrance. There was no way to actually confirm if Jason Todd was dead but I knew for sure there wasn’t a body in his grave or at least there wasn’t anymore. I wouldn’t put it past grave robbing though so there was a chance he was dead and I was just an asshole but I knew from first-hand experience there wasn’t anything but a broken casket down there. Whenever I thought of it I had a weird sensation to cough as if I couldn’t breathe. 

There was a burner phone hidden in the seam of my hoodie that no one had found since I wasn’t fully patted down when I was brought in but instead the Red Hood’s jacket was taken in as evidence. It still confused me why he hadn’t been arrested on sight after terrorizing the city months prior. It was clear that Gordon didn’t like him but he acted like he couldn’t do anything about him. Maybe they had a deal or something and it was why he had stopped killing. All these questions ran through my mind as I struggled with the handcuffs. 

I first tried messing with the glove box but the moved on to the chain before giving up and realising there was no way I’d be able to remove them without getting one off my wrist. Gordon was waiting by the door talking to an older looking man with grey hair and a tux which I was sure wasn’t Bruce Wayne but I knew I had to work quick. The only thing I could think of was trying to manoeuvre my hands as they did in some spy movie I’d seen in the drive-in. 

The drive-in was a place for both the poor and the rich in Gotham since the rich could just drive their fancy cars with their fancy dates and pay to watch the movie while the local street rats could just hop the metal chain link fence. There was only one drive-in movie theatre in all of Gotham, Al’s Movie Madness since most places had been shut down due to villain attacks. It wasn’t uncommon for businesses to just leave Gotham making the open job market a ghost town. That meant a doubling homelessness rate with not enough shelters and food kitchen supplies to go around. That lead to an influx of crime which caused more businesses to move. It was an ever-continuing cycle that would go on until the whole Gothan economy crashed. One of the best ways to forget about falling into the Great Depression 2.0 though was a free movie at the drive-in. Al always played horror movies on Wednesday and mystery movies on Thursday. They were all at least thirty years old because of the prices of film reels. I saw Scream there with my first boyfriend, Caleb, when I was twelve. The original, not the sequels. I saw them at Al’s but I wish I hadn’t. During the scene where Sidney’s boyfriend revealed he leaned over and kissed me. It was my first kiss and honestly, it wasn’t perfect like the movies. The kiss took me by surprise and at first, I twisted my head the wrong way. Then when we finally managed to get to the actual kissing part not even three seconds in did we quickly jump apart at the bloodcurdling scream from Sidney. It was weird and awkward after but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Scream had been my favourite movie since followed closely by Finding Nemo. 

Al’s favourite movies though were the James Bond and Marvel movies. The movies where the guy always got the girl. Every night after the main movie played Al would always put on the James Bond movie From Russia with Love. He would grab two lawn chairs from next to where the projector was and sit in the front row. It was usually eleven or twelve o’clock when he did so most people had already left but the few who didn’t always watched the movie in silence. It was like a silent tribute to his wife, Lila, who’d passed do to lung cancer a couple of years prior. They’d opened up Al’s Movie Madness together as a way to bring Gotham together as a community. All the pictures from the first day they opened up the drive-in are in the ticket booth at the front when you first come in. Al tells everyone that his favourite is one of Lila holding a giant pair of gold scissors in front of the entrance that is marked off with a small red ribbon. He likes to go into detail about how it was Lila’s idea to get the scissors but hadn’t realised how big they were when they came the night before the ceremony. She’d only gotten a small ribbon to cut but there was no time to find any bigger one so at the ceremony it took several tries to actually cut the ribbon because it was so small. It just kept bending as the scissors clamped but Lila just kept laughing until she eventually just cut the ribbon with a pair of nail clippers in her purse. The first movie they ever showed at the drive-in was From Russia with Love. 

From that movie alone I thought I knew exactly what I was doing as I twisted my wrist until I heard a popping sound which felt like it was coming from inside my brain. The inside of my mouth tasted dry as I pulled my lip wrist out of the handcuff and began working on the next. I didn’t really have a plan for escape since Gordon had taken his keys and Wayne Manor was in the middle of fuck knows where. It was hard to even say it was in Gotham but still, Bruce Wayne was Gotham’s Golden Boy. I guess I was going to see what he was really like behind closed doors though.

It wasn’t just the Jason Todd thing that put me off though but it was one of the main things. Another thing was Bruce Wayne was known to make large investments into frivolous things but a lot of his purchases were unexplainable. Some investigative reporter, who was trying to link Bruce Wayne with Batman, had done some digging into Wayne's financial history and a lot of the expenses were unaccounted for. Many believed that he was the Batman but I believed he was just funding him. He was too stupid to dress up like a Bat to fight crime. The second he tried to glide off of a roof he would have died but no one else in Gotham, even the rich people that believed they owned everything, had enough money to fund a superhero career without filing for bankruptcy two weeks in. 

By the time I got the second-hand cuff off Gordon was on his way back to the car. He unlocked it from a distance and with nothing to do with my new found freedom but shove it in his face I grabbed an unused cigarette from the package in the cupholder and got out of the car. I hid the rest of the pack in my sock under my pant leg. The Commissioner seemed to growl under his breath as I leaned against the squad car and balanced the bud between my lips. My mouth was dry so there was no danger of getting it wet enough not to light but I knew Gordon wouldn’t let me smoke it and the Waynes probably didn’t smoke. Maybe he would forget to take it and I could save it. 

Gordon grabbed my arm and pulled me to the door while the old man held the door open. The steps to the door seemed to be a mile apart. I really didn’t want to stay with this man or his family. No matter how many jokes I cracked I was still heavily against it. I’d been in plenty of foster homes since I turned five and knew this one would be way different. When I was five the system paired up what they thought was an innocent sweet kid with a rich loving family. An accepting family that couldn’t deal with PTSD in the little wide-eyed girls head. Her screaming and crying annoyed them to the point of return. Except whenever the screaming and anger got too much I could always find a way to leave. A way to run. Gotham underground ran every hour of every day to anywhere in the city allowing me to always be able to getaway. Wayne Manor, on the other hand, was nowhere near anything. There was only a single road and a mile-long driveway. I was stuck there until I could find a way out.

The foyer was largely circular with a large chandelier hanging in the middle above. The floors were wooden but covered in delicately patterned rugs while the walls were dark mahogany. There were tons of windows and light. Not what I thought a super villains house would look like, much less Bruce Wayne. It was large and covered in what looked like millions of crystals or diamonds. It was the shiniest and grandest thing I’d ever seen. It sort of distracted me while a couple of older men and a woman stepped in the room. 

“You must be Rachael,” a voice spooked me out of my trance. It was Bruce Wayne. I’d never actually seen him in real life but instead on tv. Vicky Vale was always hounding him with questions about whether or not he was Batman or if he was abusing his kids. Her only evidence was that his adoptive kids always had bruises but a lot of people just said they were just dumb. There were videos of them all over their Instagrams of them doing parkour or just dumb stuff. The rumour was that Vicky and Bruce had slept together once and she wouldn’t leave him alone after that. If she did though I only couldn’t understand why. 

Bruce Wayne was rich, tall, and semi-handsome but he looked scary. He had the origin story of a supervillain and the stance. He held his head high and his shoulders back. His suit was pure black but was super tight or he had something under it with the weird way it fit. The jawline on this man could be used in a construction site. His eyebrows were so furrowed and bushy you’d think there was a vengeful squirrel sleeping on his brow line. Though I doubt anyone could sleep in a hundred-yard radius of his piercing blue-eyed glare. 

The blue-eyed bloke next to him who looked slightly less mean was who I could only assume was Dick Grayson. He was wearing a suit jacket matched with expensive jeans. Everyone knew his tragic backstory by heart because of the number of times the media recited it. As a kid, he must have heard everyone talk about his parent’s tragic deaths and how ‘heroic’ Bruce Wayne was for taking him in a million times by the age of fifteen. It seemed like the sort of seemed like something that could take a toll on anyone's mentality much more a kid but he seemed happy now. His black messy hair was unlike his dad's clean style cut. It was so long that it dripped over his shoulders. What I assumed was his wife was behind him. She had bright red hair but green eyes like Gordon. His hair was browner but I assumed she was his daughter. A boy was pushing her wheelchair who looked like both a combination of both Barbara and Dick but at the same time looked no like them.

The boy was on the shorter side unlike his dad but was just as thin though Dick looked like he had muscle while the kid was all bone. He had gangly limbs and wore an oversized t-shirt with cargo shorts instead of something suit like. His hair was light brown and spiky with frosted tips though his roots were pitch black. It was sort of a disastrous trim and clearly black had been the outcome of the genetic table but not what he wanted. His left eyebrow had what looked like a slit in it but it was like someone had done it with paper shears. He deflected anger and resentment to the point I thought he was going to tip his own mother onto the floor. Clearly the kid had some issues that seemed parental. I knew off the bat I was going to like this kid right away

Bruce Wayne reached out to shake my hand but I just glared at it while Gordon took it instead. “Thanks for doing this on such short notice Bruce,” He then walked over to what I thought was his daughter. Bending down he kissed her on the cheek and gave her a hug “Hey Barbara, how's the library job? Daniel you’ve seem to have grown since I last saw you”

He reached out to ruffle Daniel’s hair who just ducked and walked away. He muttered a couple of things under his breath that I didn’t quite catch. .Barbara laughed awkwardly, clearly annoyed with her son but not wanting to address the issue. “Hey dad,” She said, looking away guilty and letting silence fall over the group. Gordon just looked back and forth from Barbara and the direction Daniel had walked off to while Dick nervously shifted from one foot to the other. I felt so out of place and decided to make a pact with myself then and there. 

This was going to be difficult for everyone so why not make it more difficult on them. Clearly Bruce already had some insider trading information on me and advantage so I wasn’t going to give him anything else but dirty looks. Just silent glares. A self-issued a challenge to see how long I could say silent. From what I’ve learned everyone thinks that they’d want silent kids but in reality, they’d hate it. No one likes empty conversation or just facial movement to go off of. I’ve been told I had very expressive eyebrows and showed my mood on my face whenever. Like wearing your heart on your sleeve but worst. Though it was time to practice my countermeasure; my poker face. A face I’d been trying to develop and perfect in a reflexive surface. Countless mirrors, car doors, and broken beer glass shards. All I had to do was stay stoned face and dead silent as I forced them to show their hands. It wasn’t a full-scale rebellion but more of a protest. A silent but calculative one.

Bruce Wayne broke the silence “Well Tim and Damian are in the kitchen helping Alfred set up for lunch so let's join them all before they eat it all,” He laughed but no one else did. Gordon began to push Barbara’s wheelchair farther into the house while I soundlessly followed but behind me, I heard Bruce turn to Dick and whisper in a demanding tone “I know we need to talk. Do it in my study.”

I heard their footsteps walk off in some other direction in the house and thought to myself ‘In order to figure out what was going on I need to get into his study. That’s where he’s hiding all his secrets’ as I walked past an old grandfather clock. It was huge, bulky, and downright hideous. ‘Only a millionaire would buy that piece of junk’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo this took a long time to write and I know it's kind of sort but I guess I have more time now that I'm in self-quartine. I'm really sorry. I've been helping out figuring out what my high school is going to do and prepping for online classes. Hope you all are safe and there will be more updates that will take less long to write. Again I'm sorry and remember to wash your hand!


	6. News From Two Guilty Parties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Dick Grayson's point of view.

Bruce Wayne was never known for his ability to be a team player. The truth was he really did work alone and just brought along a Robin as a distraction. A distraction that was never informed or ever consulted on any matter of importance. It was for my protection as a kid he’d told me but as I grew older I realized that he’d never truly work with me. 

I had only known that Bruce was going to be fostering a kid through Barbra after her dad had called her. It wasn’t a mandatory thing by the state or favour to the Commissioner but instead had filed an arrest warrant first before filing for foster guardianship. Bruce hadn’t even been descriptive on what the arrest warrant was about but instead asked Gordon to use whatever resources and men available with all costs paid. The only reason he did call Barbra though was that the Red Hood had been the one to bring her in on a small dealing charge. Either way, he was going to hand deliver her for lunch so I called and made arrangements with Alfred about three more plates. 

I don’t know what I exactly expected the kid to look like but she didn’t look like anything even remotely close. Instead of the regular black-clothed drug dealer go-to look, she had on an oversized red hoodie that swamped her and baggy jeans. She kept her head down and her face was covered by her jet black hair. Bruce sure had a trend with the black hair thing. I often wondered if he would have adopted me if I had been blond or even just brunette. The only thing visible other than her hair was her ears. The tips were pink from the cold as seemed to be her hands which were shoved into her jacket pocket. I couldn’t see her eyes well but had the feeling she kept looking up at me whenever I wasn’t looking. I had no doubt she wasn’t shy though just calculative. Observing instead of speaking and judging us all. Her shoes were ripped and sort of damp which I knew Alfred wouldn’t be happy about her tramping in mud onto the carpets but he’d make an exception “just this once” like he always did. Something about her appearance as well nervous but arrogant behaviour reminded me heavily of Jason when Bruce first took him in. I wasn’t there the night that he did but Barbra was as Batgirl. According to her, Bruce had first gotten Jason as a foster kid after he’d picked a fight with Batman and described a scene almost identical to this one. 

“I know we need to talk. Do it in my study.” 

The forbidden study. I used to call it that as a kid because Bruce wouldn’t let me in there. Though it seems the older and older I got the more I got shoved through the large stained wood doors for another talk. It was like a mini library with shelves extending towards the ceiling on the back wall despite there being a library down the hall. There was a large fireplace on the opposite wall that was the original entrance to the Batcave but Bruce had since added many other ways. My favourite was the one behind the large grandfather clock. It was much more exciting to spin an arrow then it was to push a button on a remote.

Above the fireplace was a large painting of Bruce as a kid with his parents. There were very few photos or paintings of his parents because he feels guilt, I think. I don’t think he’s guilty about how they died because he’s accepted that he couldn’t do anything but who he became. He felt like if he became Batman he had to tarnish his persona and name with this billionaire playboy act. In his eyes, his life isn’t what they’d want but what Gotham needs. I sort of felt the same way when I ran off to join the Teen Titans and started training to be a cop. Not what Bruce wanted but what Bloodhaven needed. What I needed in a sense. 

Bruce followed me into the study and leaned up against his large wooden desk. It’s covered in tons of papers but right next to his pencil cup is a single photo of the Wayne family from lat Christmas. We’d even convinced Alfred to be in it besides taking it. It wasn’t the complete family because Jason wasn’t in it but it still was a nice photo. I remember trying to invite him to Christmas but I just got a number invalid message when I tried to text him. 

“So I take it you’re looking to replace Robin again?” I spit out bitterly. I wasn’t even really mad at him for anything but not telling me or keeping me in the loop. If he was going to replace Damian as Robin it would have been fine. Daniel, my son, had shown no interest in taking up the role and I’d seen Damian working on a couple of costume designs in his free time. He was about to turn seventeen and had become more active in his role with the Titians and in a duo with Superboy than he’d been with Bruce in a long time. No, what bothered me was whatever had happened with Daniel outside. I’d been feeling a lot of tension brewing between them and they’d stop arguing whenever I walked in the door. I knew I had to talk to him and soon since he’d just disrespected his own grandfather in front of the whole room as well as a guest.

“No,” Bruce slid over a tan folder with a date from two years ago as the label. The date didn’t mean anything significant to me or anything. I opened it cautiously preparing for what I was going to find. The first page was a bunch of photographs of Rachael. They looked old but like they’d all taken from different years though. In some photos, she was alone at soup kitchens or libraries with her hair chopped up messily but otherwise the same while in others were with other people from what looked like when she was five. I began thumbing through them before realising that on the back were the dates the photos had been taken. Some of the people with her I’d recognised from the list of potentially dangerous active criminals though most were just children and prostitutes. One photo, in particular, caught my eye though of a woman dragging along what appeared to be four years old Rachael. It was dated back fourteen years ago but her face still looked the same with her silver-blonde hair and pale blue eyes. “Talia gave me the folder” 

“So these are all photos taken by the League?” he nodded and I massaged my forehead in frustration. “Why though?” 

Bruce silently handed me another document off his printer. He’d scanned it into the Batcomputer. It was labelled as “Experiment Lazarus 002”. Just by the title, I felt slightly ill since I’d seen first hand what the Lazarus Pit had done to several of my friends. The contents were just grim, to say the least. It was hard to read but I got the point. 

“Shes..” Bruce nodded and I sighed. I didn’t sigh because of the truth or anything but that I knew Bruce was already not handling the situation right. According to Barbra, she’d already had a run-in with Red Hood and if Jason had had any idea she wouldn’t be standing in Bruce’s foyer or even a hundred yards near the manor at all. “And Jason doesn’t know”

“Both the League as well as the Court of Owls are looking for her know” Bruce ignored my question flipping through another file “The League has it listed as the cure for death.”

“There’s no cure for death” 

“Tell that to Vandal Savage” Bruce picked up another file and started flipping through it. “During the first trial, it says that the subject did come back but not because of the League but for another reason unknown.”

“Subject?” I questioned but Bruce continued on.

“The League tends to code their documents so this is what I’ve translated so far. There’s something about not bleeding but I think it’s mistranslated through but I can’t seem to figure out what else it could be or if not what it could mean,” Bruce shuffled through more files until I finally had had enough. 

“What are you planning to do?”

“Well my main goal is to first get this translated but Tim is more skilled at the language then I am, I must admit. Then if the Court is planning anything, we can use this to our advantage to get it and figure out their end goal,” Bruce sat and leaned back in his desk chair. He took a pen and started writing on a printed document “There also has been chatter through the low-lives about a war o Black Mask so my focus is divided though.” 

“What are you planning to do?” I repeated the question and Bruce looked up at me. I rolled my eyes and ignored his piercing glare like he’d ignored my input “With Rachael” 

“She is to remain at the Manor until both the League and Court of Owls plan is figured out then I don’t know,” Bruce said coldly before getting up and heading to the door “From what I can tell there are four to five years missing from her timeline. Until I figure out what happened at that time she isn’t leaving this house.”

“It’s not a house Bruce, it's apparently a prison,” I shouted and Bruce’s glare hardened “What about Jason?”

“Until the situation calls for it I’d prefer not to work with the Red Hood,” Bruce sighed “Besides Oliver Queen and his son, William, will be arriving Monday since there have been reports of Arsenal working with the Red Hood in Crime Alley.”

“Why would you call him”

“I figured if the situation got out of hand he would be the one that could handle it,” Bruce breathed in deeply “He’s the only one Roy listens to.”

“No, he’s not,” I refuted angrily “Roy doesn’t listen to him instead he gets ripped down by him! I know you don’t approve of Jason or his methods but first, you’re keeping his own daughter from him or even letting him know he has one then you’re destroying his relationship. Jasons still you’re son even if you don’t believe it. You know that is Oliver comes he will just berate and destroy everything Roy has worked to fix about himself. He..” 

“Don’t give me advice about my family when you can’t even fix your own,” Bruce stated angrily cutting me off. He took a long breath before calming preceding “If you’re worried about what happened you are all invited to stay while she’s here.” 

Without a word, he left towards the kitchen and I went to find Daniel to ask about his behaviour. Bruce wasn’t right about my family. He didn’t know us like he thought he did. We came over for dinner and were friendly with him every Friday but he didn’t know that afterwards, we got ice cream in the city if I wasn’t out being Nightwing. I tried to run my family the opposite of him with no secrets. 

“It’s just teen angst,” I thought to myself as I walked off towards the library. The library was Daniel’s favourite room in the Manor besides Bruce’s home theatre where he kept the Xbox and R-rated movies. When he was little and was first learning to read he declared that before he died he’d read every book in the library. Brue would buy books on his reading level and put them on the lower shelves so he’d find them. It could have been the same book that he had at home but if it was in Bruce’s library it was the most interesting book in the world. If he were going to stomp off anywhere it was to go read. In the back of my mind, I knew this was a bigger issue than stirred up teen hormonal emotions but I couldn’t figure out what else it could be. “Maybe he’s getting bullied at school but he seems to have a lot of friends or maybe…”

The library had two large wooden doors with brass handles that were super heavy. They made it impossible to come into the library quietly without the doors slamming shut. Either a design flaw or a conscience choice by Bruce, I didn’t know. Daniel was laying on one of the couches flipping through a copy of a book. He didn’t seem to be reading it but instead making an effort to stay focused on it instead of looking up at me. I walked over and sat next to him but he still focused on the book. 

“Whatcha reading?” I asked trying to find an icebreaker but his eyes were still trained on the book. He hadn’t flipped the page or anything. "Okay, then you know what I’m going to have to do if you don’t answer me.”

I reached out to pinch his side like I used to do when he was little because it always made him laugh when he was little but instead he put the book down to look at me. His face became even more contorted with anger. “How the fuck are you so stupid?”

“Language!” I was surprised thinking about what I could have done to cause this reaction. Daniel wasn’t the sort of kid to just resort to swears and brash actions until lately starting with his hair. He’d dyed the tips of his hair blond over at a friends house which had made Barbra angry but then took it a step further dying the rest straight brown. His reason was that he didn’t want to be associated with her any more. It was the only issue that I could figure out so I decided to start there “Is this about your hair? I mean I know your mom was mad but it was because you didn’t consult with us first before doing it.”

“Did she consult with you first before making out with her co-worker.” It wasn’t a question but a statement. A statement that took me back with so much shock that I oddly felt the need to laugh about how ridiculous I found it.

“Daniel, that's not something to joke about..” I started but he cut me off.

“Who said I was joking?” He pulled out his phone and unlocked it with his fingerprint before pulling up his photos. He scrolled through his camera roll a bit before coming up with pictures from the Gotham Public Library where Barbra worked. It was a block from our apartment so often Barbra just rolled her wheelchair there to work. Sometimes Daniel would push her there but she always said she didn’t need to be picked up or walked home. Her claim was that she could handle herself but seeing now that it was just a bunch of bullshit. In front of the library was a man with blond hair leaning down kissing a ginger-haired woman in a wheelchair that I only could identify as my wife. I slumped back in what felt like regret and put my arm around Daniel. He silently hugged me for a moment before pulling away to face me.

“I’m sorry Dad,” he said, panicked. “I don’t know, I thought you knew because of the way you were acting. I confronted Mom but she just got mad I wasn’t in school and tried to ground me. I’m sorry for calling you stupid and dying my hair and taking the money and..”

He was out of breath naming excuses and I put my hand up to stop him. For a moment I had to push my feelings aside to be a father. “No, I know you might not think it but you did the right thing. I’d rather know than not. What is this about money though?”

He pulled out a couple of wrinkled twenties from his back pocket and placed them on the coffee table “I found them in a book and took them. I’m sorry I didn't think Bruce would notice.” 

“He won’t. He needs that sixty bucks as much as he needs a hole in his head. Take it but I want to talk to you about something serious.”

Daniel put the money back into his pocket and nodded silently. His green eyes looked like they were brimmed with tears but his face was set in a hard scowl. Biologically I shared no DNA with Bruce but at that moment I saw so much of him in Daniel. I’d always tried to be open about my emotions with my son but still, he acted like he had none. I pulled him into a hug. 

“We’re going to stay here awhile. I know that sounds bad but I was already planning on doing it. I think I need time away from your mother. Do you understand?” Though his head was pressed into my shoulder and I couldn’t see his expression I felt him nod. “Do you have your backpack for school?” Another nod. “Okay well, I’m going to go talk to Bruce and let you finish up your book.” 

With that, he let go and pick up his book before turning back to page one. I watched his eyes scan the page and follow the words actually reading rather than ignoring me for a second. I knew this wasn’t our last talk about the situation and wasn’t even really a talk but I had to let the matter sink in first. My brain didn’t seem to want to grasp the reality of the situation or wanted to tell me it was a mistake. 

I made my way into the kitchen to find everyone sat down with sandwiches and egg salad casually talking. The instant Barbra made eye contact with me I knew it was true because she looked down at the ground in shame. It was a stare that seemed to last for entirety as I looked at her and she looked at the floor. It wasn’t until Damian broke the silence. 

“Where's Daniel?”

“Library” 

“Cool, I wanted to see if he wanted to play Xbox after lunch.”

I then turned to Bruce and asked as emotionless as I could “Can Daniel and I stay here for a bit?” He nodded and Commissioner Gordon frowned while Barbra just turned her wheelchair to head for the door without a word. Even though she was looking down I could still see the tears streaming down her face. Her dad followed after her and after five minutes of awkward silence, we heard them drive off. Then I casually broke the silence to talk and get my mind off things “So Rachael tell me about yourself.”


	7. Manor Maze Of Missing Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in the previous chapter, I changed Oliver Queens son's named to William instead of Scotty because that is his son's name in Arrow. Just wanted to let anyone who had read it before I changed it. Nothing else was changed other than a few grammar mistakes.

“So Rachael tell me about yourself.” Dick Grayson asked as I watched Commissioner Gordon wheel out his crying daughter. Some mental games had just gone down and between Dick and his wife before his demeanour suddenly did a one-eighty when she left. It made me feel more uncomfortable then I’d already been. 

When I’d first walked into the kitchen there had been two boys sitting at the table arguing. Both of them with black hair like everyone else in the family. One of the boys looked younger like he was around seventeen while the other boy looked more like he was twenty. He was sipping a cup of coffee and typing on his laptop during breaks whilst arguing with the younger one who was feeding the ham off of his sandwich to the dog. The butler turned around angrily from mixing what looked like yellow throw up to scold him. 

“Master Damian, how many times must I ask you not to feed your lunch to Titus?”

“Enough times until you realize I’m a vegetarian Alfred,” Damian sighed and tossed another piece to Titus. He nudged the guy typing on his computer making him almost spill his coffee “Hey Commissioner” 

Both Alfred and the other boy looked up surprised and Gordon gave them a wave before sitting down at the table. He motioned me to sit in the chair next to him as the boys stared in confusion. I looked down at the wooden table and started drawing pictures with the cracks in my mind as Gordon started talking. 

“Tim, how's the company?” He said addressing the guy typing. Tim just rolled his eyes and took a long dramatized sip of coffee. “That bad, huh? Well, Damian how’s Gotham High?”

“Significant,” Damian answered, giving me a side-eye. He looked only a little older than me but weirdly, he mentally seemed to be ages ahead. It felt like he was almost looking down at me but I guessed it was a feeling that I would have to get used to. He turned his nose and snootily asked: “Who are you?” 

Alfred began scooping the yellow goop into bowls with a wooden spoon and placed them in front of the chairs at the table. As he passed Damian he swiftly whacked him on the head with the clean end of the spoon and reminded him to watch his manners as Gordon’s daughter, Barbra, spoke up.

“She’s Bruce’s new foster kid, Rachael,” It was saying he’d gotten a new car or yacht not another mouth to feed. Both Damian and Tim looked up in surprise and I narrowed my eyes. Bruce had the entire Gotham police force searching for me unsuccessfully but his kids didn’t know about the situation at all. Something wrong was going on. Barbra tried to smile kindly at me but in her eyes, there was confusion as well “My father came by to drop her off.”

“From a juvenile delinquent centre,” Damian muttered under his breath and this time Tim smacked him in the arm. The kid didn’t learn though since he then decided to directly question me himself “What is your business with my father?” 

I stayed silent and his eyebrows furrowed even more. The phone in my seam vibrated though and my breath hitched. None of them seemed to have heard it but Damian’s ears did seem to perk up for a second. I was finally able to breathe when Bruce and Dick re-entered but again stopped once Barbra was forced out. 

As we all heard the front door close the fog of awkwardness in the room thickened. Dick tried to make conversation but I just stayed quiet making things even worse. Alfred goop turned out to be egg salad and he even had sandwiches to go with it. It looked good but the situation was so weird that I didn’t trust anything. The situation didn’t sit right with my stomach at all. The phone buzzed again.

“Where's the bathroom?” I asked calmly after a while and the whole table looked up in surprise. It was the first time I’d talked but my phone was blowing up like crazy. As well as not risking one of them hearing the vibrations I was also getting anxious about what the texts might be saying. There must have been about four from what I’d counted as opposed to the normal radio silence. 

“Alfred will show you where it is,” Bruce answered motioning to his butler. Alfred finished putting away the leftovers from lunch and began leading me down the hall. I silently followed behind him as every instinct in my body told me to run. The hallway was long, dark, and gave me the eerie feeling of being in an old horror film. My fight or flight response felt like it was on autopilot as I lifted the first sharp object I saw. It was a golden and bronze antique letter opener with the Wayne family crest on it that had been sitting on one of the thousand display tables in the hall. The place looked more like a museum than a home. Who needs a letter opener anyway? My mind flashed to a funny cartoon of Bruce trying to open a letter but crying because his hands were too delicate. I stifled a laugh as I shoved the letter opener into my hoodie’s pocket and Alfred looked back suspiciously. 

“Right here Miss Rachael,” He said, stopping in front of one of the doors. It looked exactly like all the other doors in the hall. It was surprising anyone can tell any of them apart “May I help you with anything else miss?”

“You don’t have to do that,”

“Do what may I ask?” 

“Call me miss or anything like that. It sounds idiotic and snooty,”

He pounded the idea for a moment before dawning a sort of mysterious smile like he was in on some joke I wasn’t. I sort of instantly regretted it because I was telling him how to do his job like I owned the place. From rumours, I’d heard he’d been working here for ages so he certainly didn’t need me bossing him around. “Very well Rachael. Come back to the kitchen once you’ve finished so I may give you a tour of the rest of the house,” Then he turned and left towards the kitchen leaving me alone. 

“Well that wasn’t weird,” I muttered sarcastically to no one as I slouched down on the toilet. I was so sweaty I realised as I pulled my hoodie off and used some toilet paper to dry my armpits. The last shower I had must have been around three days ago so I probably stank. 

The water at my friend, Lola’s place, where I’d been crashing since I’d been back in Gotham, had been temporarily shut off before this had happened because there was a rumour a cop had opened a case about what was in the basement. Penguin’s side project to the Iceberg Lounge. In the basement underneath Lola’s apartment building was a small speakeasy that had been there since “the roaring twenties” as he described it. It hadn’t been operational since until Salvatore Maroni, another local crime boss who'd recently been getting hit hard by Black Mask’s guerilla-style warfare, had traded it in exchange for protection. Penguin put Lola in charge of the renovations and planning while letting her live in one of the apartments above. He’d had made her the landlord of the entire building but I’d been taking care of residency issues while she foresaw construction. It had been working for a while and no one had thought to question why two sixteen-year-olds were running an entire apartment building until the cops had gotten involved. 

Lola was well known as Penguins assistant and many knew not to mess with her especially most cops but every once in while there was always one idiot. The speakeasy was going to be underground gambling and roller derby site that had been set up to open in about two weeks but a police investigation might tamper with that plan. Penguin had guys doing a little investigation of their own while Lola was told to make sure nothing could be traced back to the club and what they were going to name it. He’d given her the honour of naming it but she hadn’t had time to come up with a proper name yet. 

We’d been calling it “living room number two” so people didn’t get suspicious but we could probably call it anything and people wouldn’t care. It was Gotham, every sane person that lived there had moved out ages ago which led me to question why the Wayne’s were still there when they probably had a summer house on a beach somewhere in the sun. They could have easily stayed there and been anonymous rather than in a dark, rainy, and cold city that thought they were celebrities with dark skeletons in their closet. They all seemed nice on camera with Bruce donating to charity and Dick doing backflips but it seemed plastic especially now.

The first text on my phone was from Lola about the speakeasy “The investigation is still ongoing but easing up. I think we’ll be ready to open in two weeks. There’s tons of extra space. Do you think I should text Penguin my idea of having a stage for drag shows and sorts? Also, where are you???” I texted her back yes and informed her of the situation. Her only response was “weird” and “don’t die because you can’t and probably will be experimented on”. Mine was just “jackass”. 

The rest of the texts were from Alex asking where the hell I was as well. I texted him and his first text was ‘need me to come to break you out?”. I leaned my head back on the cold porcelain toilet and stared up at the ceiling pondering the question. Every kid I’d ever met would kill to be in my position right now and even if I managed to leave permanently the Wayne’s had the whole police force in their pocket. The gravity of that didn’t fully resonate with me since even if the mob had half of the force there always seem to be a few straight and narrow cops led by the precinct's squeaky clean Commissioner but this was something else. It made me wonder even more about the Commissioners' past even more as well and whether his and Bruce’s partnership was built on something other than friendship. 

The Waynes were hiding something and I decided to stay to figure it out. Not because I had to but because I could. Fate or rather the Red Hood had put me into this situation so I intended to see it to the end. Though I didn’t know what I’d with any information I found since I wasn’t a journalist or on any social media, in my mind, I figured I’d burn that bridge when I got to it. Maybe it could be worth something to somebody that they’d pay a high price for it. Sometimes the old Falcon family members used to pay kids for whatever information they overheard while on the streets before Joker extinguished their power. Or maybe someone would pay top dollar for floor plans and access codes. Either way, if I was going to profit off of it and kill my curiosity I had to stay and figure out what the hell was going on. 

I texted my answer to Alex. He tried to debate it bringing up points I’d already thought of like what if Bruce Wayne was crazy or what if they make money selling stolen organs. I considered these questions again before figuring I could handle it and turning the conversation towards the pickup tonight. There was a shipload of crates being dropped off for both Black Mask and Penguin coming into the docks that night that we’d been both hired to secure along with a group of others. No one knew why both parties had been working together but the rumours were terrifying. It didn’t confront me knowing that Wayne Industries owned the ports where everything was being unloaded off. The Manor shouldn’t be a problem breaking out and Alex said he’d pick me up towards the main road near the edge of the Manor’s property but there still was the problem of Batman. Batman had been insanely active lately dragging along Red Robin and Robin in his wake. It was like he had insider trading info on where Black Mask and Penguin were moving their operations around to. Alex assured me though that if he bothered to show up Black Mask assured that we’d be prepared for him. We arranged an exact meeting time and I pondered my next move as I shoved the phone back into through the hole in the seam. I sighed deeply as I put back on my hoodie and prepared to go reface whatever awkward psycho family dynamic awaited me. 

As I left the bathroom to go back to the kitchen bumped into Dick’s son, the kid who had stormed off when I first arrived. The bathroom door swung open and almost hit him. My reason to stay was to find out what the public didn’t know about the Wayne’s so I figured he’d be a good starting point. Besides he didn’t look so good. His hair was tangled like he’d been anxiously combing through it and his eyes were red from what seemed like crying. 

“Sorry,” he stuttered, looking down and wiping his face on his shirt “Didn’t mean to do that.”

“What,” I asked sarcastically “Trying to get hit with the door?”

“No, I mean I was” he stammered looking even more anxious and a little scared making me feel bad. I’d had such a long day that never seemed like it was going to end. It felt like weeks ago since I’d met Dixie not fifteen or so hours ago. The feeling that I got when I pushed the Red Hood off a roof and thought I had killed him hadn’t left me though. Sadly it was a familiar feeling in a way but not a good one. All I wanted to do was eat, sleep, and not talk to some random sad rich kid but I didn’t feel comfortable doing any of that in this weird house. Still, he may have been my only solution to finding a way to sneak out. “I’m Daniel by the way. I meant I’m sorry for disturbing you or anything like that. Also sorry for earlier, I should have said hi or something. Just sorry,”

“Okay. just stop saying sorry,”

“Sorry,” he responded before realising what he’d done. He awkwardly sucked in a big gulp of air “Sorry. I’m just a little off today or something,”

“Or something,” I quoted back to him before trying to pry information out of him to see if it would help make sense of anything. It probably had something to do with what happened back in the kitchen but I felt like any information could help me understand at least something that was going on. On one hand, I hated being in the dark but on the other hand, I hated feeling like I was manipulating this distressed anxious boy. Though in every foster home I’d been in since my mom had taught me one thing: Be selfish. “Wanna talk about it? 

“Nah,”

With that, he simply walked to me to the kitchen with me in tow while both the devil and angel on my shoulders lowered their weapons in disbelief. One thing though that their little moral argument had proved was that this was going to be harder than I’d originally thought. My oath of silence had been broken but not fully abandoned as I walked into the kitchen. I decided to re-evaluate it’s guidelines rather than scrape it completely. I’d still be mostly silent but make calculative conversation with Danial and the butler. I didn’t fully trust them or even really trust them at all but they seemed the less hectic and mysterious out of the bunch. That's what I needed right now if I was going to stay trying to figure out their skeletons while also dealing with Black Mask. 

“I’m sorry Rachael,” Bruce said as I entered the kitchen. Damian was completely gone while Tim was packing up his laptop. “There’s been an emergency at the office that I must attend to but Alfred will give you a tour of the house while we’re out,” 

With that, he and Tim were off but I didn’t hear the front door shut like I did when Barbra left though. It was strange but I didn’t linger on it as Alfred began the tour going the opposite direction. Daniel tagged along casually chiming in about different memories in each room or how cool or weird he thought all of Bruce’s stuff was. I stayed silent but all I could think of was what a waste of money most of his stuff was. Sure a suit of armour was cool but I counted three on the first floor.

Alfred explained that most of the house had been decorated by designers hired by Bruce’s parents. That sort of depressed me a little more because I felt uncomfortable and unwelcomed in the home in the little time I’d been there that it must be a nightmare for Bruce. A constant reminder of his dead parents in each room. That seemed like it would make anyone go insane or at the very least change their furniture. It made you wonder when he was going to snap and become a super-villain like everyone else in Gotham with a messed up back story. Somehow in everyone's head, even mine sometimes, thought maybe crime could make them happy. “The thrill” was everyone's excuse. Maybe it wasn’t a thrill but more of taking someone else’s happiness to replace your own instead of the actual crime itself.

According to Danial and Alfred, the household didn't use many of the rooms besides the main tv-room, library, kitchen, and the indoor garden as well as their bedrooms. Despite not living there, Danial had a bedroom of his styled to his liking. Bruce posed the fact that he loved his family because most of the hallways and rooms had pictures of him and different black-haired boys. I couldn’t tell any of them apart though but I was there to sleuth. This time I skipped the moral argument. 

“Are there any photos of Jason Todd?”

Alfred flashed a melancholy smile while Daniel began pointing out various pictures while accompanying them with more stories. There were many pictures of him and Bruce at baseball games decked out in Gotham Knights merchandise and pictures of them together at fancy parties “ Jason hated galas and benefit but according to Bruce, he could make anyone laugh at them. My dad used to tell me stories about how Jason used to sneak whiskey in and get so hammered that he would start hitting on a bunch of councilman’s wives when he was only thirteen,” 

“He always has been a troublemaker,” Alfred chimed in sadly “ever since he first stepped foot in here,”

I’d heard a lot of rumours and theories about Jason Todd but I’d never actually seen what he looked like. His hair was much shaggier and unkept than any of Bruce’s other sons and he had a little scar going through his left eyebrow. In what seemed like every photo his eyebrows were a little furrowed covering his blue eyes much like Bruce. In various photos, he was balancing on rocks and brick walls or reading books in the library sitting in unusual positions. Alfred explained that he’d love to read. Danial explained the photos of Jason, Dick, and Bruce whilst proudly explaining his dad’s heritage. I bit back a circus freak joke as the butler eyed me like he knew what I was thinking. 

“And this was last year at…” Danial stopped explaining himself at a more recent picture of Dick, Tim, and another grown man. He bore a passing resemblance to young Jason but there were some things different about him as well. The demeanour was different and the eyes were greener. My mind seemed transfixed on the image like it was trying to draw from an unsaved memory. 

Suddenly the corners of my vision started to blackout and get blurry. There was a distant ringing in my ears that felt like it was going to make them start bleeding at any second. It started getting even louder and faster until it developed into full psychotic laughter. A woman’s voice then started trying to speak over it but couldn’t. She kept getting drowned out by the laughter. It seemed like a never-ending cycle but then.

“Miss Rachael, are you alright?” 

I tried to respond but started violently dry coughing and heaving instead. Something that looked like a distant memory flashed across my mind but was too fast to see. All I could make out was what looked like blood on the concrete. The inside of my mouth felt dusty. My lungs felt full of something but I couldn’t tell exactly what and my body ached all over. Pain was something I had sort of developed an intolerance to and hadn’t felt much of in a while. I didn’t enjoy feeling it then as I gripped on a shelf for support. Both Alfred and Danial stepped forward to help but I got control of my coughing and righted myself 

“I told you not to call me “Miss”,” I pointed out annoyed making air quotation marks. Alfred sighed in relief as I caught sight of the time on an antique clock on the wall. It was almost time to meet Alex. “Can I just go to bed now or something?”

Danial didn’t seem put off at my rude tone at all. “Her room is right down the hall from mine so I can take her. If that's alright with you?” 

“Of course Master Danial, but would either of you like any dinner? There are leftovers from lunch as well as from several different meals from throughout the week?”

Damian looked over at me for an answer but I just looked away “Nah Alfie, we should be fine. Besides we both know where the fridge is located if we want anything,” And with that, we all split with Alfred going off into the maze that was Wayne Manor and Danial Wayne leading me towards “my” room. 

“Sorry about our crap introduction earlier but I bet it was better than everyone else’s introductions,” I grunted in agreement “But don’t worry they're all nice. Well sort of. More of an acquired taste but they have their perks. Like Damian might seem super scary but he's a big sweetheart when it comes to animals. Even convinced Bruce to get him a cow!” 

“A cow?”  
“Yeah, she lives out back and every morning Damian wakes up super early to milk her. Part of the reason he’s so grumpy all the time is because he gets no sleep. He doesn’t even drink milk either! Instead every few days he has either Tim or my dad drive it over to the Gotham Food Bank,” 

I’d been to the Gotham City Food Bank tons of time and now that I was thinking about it they did seem to serve a lot of milk in the mornings. There was always big wooden crates with giant glass jugs of milk. Though there was no way one cow was feeding over half of Gotham’s population; the homeless. 

“Is there really a cow outback or you just fucking with me?”

“No, I swear! Her name's Batcow,” he began to stutter before changing the subject “After you know..ugh...Batman. Anyway, I think Damian is going to grow up to be a zookeeper or some kind of activist if he doesn’t become a lawyer. He’s currently arguing with Bruce about getting another cow and I think he’s winning,”

“So what does your dad do for a living?”

“Well, he’s a cop. A beat cop, not a detective yet though. He used to be working in Bludhaven but recently transferred back to GCPD,” I tried to ask why he’d transferred but Daniel cut me off “Well here’s your room! Mines right down the hall if you need me. The one with the Twenty-One Pilots and Superman logo on the door.” 

I wasn’t able to respond before he spun his heels around and speed walked to his room as fast as he could. ‘Well that was weird,” I thought as I stared into the darkroom. Inside was a huge king-sized bed, some dressers, a closet, and a giant tv. It seemed awesome but also terrifying. Everything was too big. ‘Maybe Bruce isn’t hiding something and is a generally good normal guy? Maybe I should just leave and head back to Lola’s place after the job at the docks? But there was something off about Danial when I asked about why his dad had transferred. And the man in the photo. I’d seen him before but I couldn’t remember where or why he looked familiar. I need to stay even more now to figure out who he is.’

I didn’t bother entering the room before sneaking down the hallway and making my way to the front door. With a house as expensive as Wayne Manor, they had to have alarms on the windows. In my head, the front door was my best bet because it might not trigger an alarm if someone opened it from the inside. It was a gamble but I figured I had nothing to lose since I could out-run the butler and didn’t have to stay. I had the whole house mapped out in my head but if I did get caught on the way down I could just claim I was looking for the kitchen. 

Once I made it outside with no hiccups it wasn’t too hard to find Alex’s car. He’d been making good money recently but still drove an old red pickup truck. He claimed it was so the cops didn’t get suspicious and figured out he didn’t have a license but I thought it reminded him of the car his dad used to drive. Inside was Alex, Dixie, and another dude our age I didn't know. I got into the passenger seat and the unknown kid spoke up “Who knew the Waynes actually bothered to commit their own crimes these days?”

“She’s not a Wayne, Scotty,” Alex sighed tiredly before starting up the truck to pull out to drive to the pier. Something in the bed of the truck slid around. “ Rachael, Scotty. Scotty, Rachael.”

Scotty had bright green hair like a tennis ball that was cut into a fringe covering the left side of his face. The right side had burns on it extending from his neck and underneath his shirt. He smiled devilishly at me as he lit a cigarette and Alex rolled down the window so the car was filled with that weird wind noise. “Nice to meet you,”

“Nice to meet you too, Miss. Wayne,”

“I told you she's not a urgh!” Alex said and I caught Dixie cracking up in the rearview mirror. He took out his phone and held down the home button, “Siri play “Scotty Doesn’t Know,” 

We all laughed as Scotty rolled his eyes before joining in. For the rest of the ride we just talked, laughed, and sang along to the radio. I told them about the Red Hood and the precinct before telling them everything that had happened so far. They all chimed in with theories throughout. Scotty thought that the Waynes were either part of a doomsday cult or part of a secret society that ran all of Gotham while Alex went on to explain his theory about how he thought Bruce was working with Batman. I felt like I had heard it before despite not recalling when. Dixie was just glad that I was okay. 

“Well, we’re here folks!” Alex cheerfully announced as he parked in the street in front of the pier not bothering to feed the meter.  
“I’ll unload the back,” Dixie said as we all got out. I left the letter opener from my pocket in the car. 

“What’s in the back?”

“In case Batman or some other looney toon shows up,” Scotty laughed handing me a large gun and then a clouded plastic mask “Sadly though you’re going to have to cover that pretty face of yours,” 

I could feel myself blushing as I awkwardly grabbed the gun. It wasn’t that I hadn’t handled a gun before but they’d all been handguns. These seemed almost military-grade.

“Come on we’re late,” Dixie announced before taking off a couple of steps ahead. He seemed a bit angry but I couldn’t think of anything that would have set him off in the last five minutes of arriving. 

Waiting on the pier were a bunch of people holding guns like ours. Judging by most of their sizes only a few were adults while the rest were hired, teens. Alex flipped up his mask and nodded at everyone signalling he was in charge. In the distance was an outline of a forthcoming ship in the fog. 

“So who do you y’all think is Batman?” Scotty asked, opening up the floor for debate while we waited. There were a lot of different answers. Most were just jokes like Lex Luthor, Clark Kent, and people who didn’t even live in Gotham. Someone said Bruce Wayne made us all laugh and another said Oliver Queen. This sparked debate between a couple of teens.

“Oliver Queen lives in Starling City,”

“Yeah but he visits here a lot,” 

“Only because Queen Consolidated and Wayne Industries are working together on some research project, idiot”

“Heads up,” Alex said, alerting everyone as the ship docked. We’d been instructed to unload the contents and waited for the Penguin and Riddler’s crew to show up. It was more Penguin’s crew but they decided to combine them when they started “dating” or people speculated they did. “Rachael, do you want to do the honours?” 

He tossed me a crowbar and for a brief moment, I felt like I did back at the mansion with the photograph. More bits of memories came back from what I’d been trying to piece together for months still there wasn’t a long enough moment to remember anything major, just fragments. 

I pried to the first shipping crate open and my eyes almost had to do double-take. Not only were there guns and explosives but a big metal cage. Inside there were two orange hungry-looking tigers with their eyes fixed on the rooftops above us.

“Here kitty kitty,” I jokingly sang before hearing a whoosh next to my ear. The pier laughed at the Tiger King joke but quickly quieted as we all looked over. Sticking into the metal shipping container was a red arrow. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw two figures dressed in black wearing gold owl eye masks jumped off piled up storage crates. My mind didn’t really register anything until I heard gunfire behind me snapping me back to reality. Then I sprang into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this is so late. I feel like I've had this similar note a lot but I did try to extend the chapter as well as set the scene and situations more. I can't promise I'll put out the next chapter in a week but I won't wait over half a month like I did this one though


	8. Harbour Of Five Unusual Parties

“Well damn if it isn’t an old fashion murder board!” Roy Harper said, throwing his bags down on my couch. He’s only got a backpack and a duffel bag that probably contained his bow and quiver though he’s wearing like three layers of clothes. One of which is covered in specks of blood. How he manages to sneak a bow onto the Bludhaven tram is beyond me. I knew he was coming but it sort of shocked me that he was there since I hadn’t seen his in almost three months. Mostly due to my busy schedule and his daughter, Liam, but part of me knew he’d be able to drag me back to sanity which I couldn’t do right now. Not with all of Gotham’s criminal underworld power struggle.``Where do you keep the Oxyclean?”

“Should be under the sink, why?” 

“Phew Jaybird,” he said laughing and avoiding my question as he moseyed his way into the kitchen “this is a nice ass safe house. Look you even got a houseplant… and it’s alive!”

It kind of sucked that Roy thought that keeping a houseplant alive was a big success for me especially since it was fake. He didn’t need to know that just yet though. Dr Thompskins had brought it as a way to try and make this space more “liveable”. The other day she’d even offered to get me a deal on a washing machine that “had fallen off the back of a truck” from a former patient since most of my buildings were broken but allowed you to get your own. She’d been doing that a lot lately but probably because of Tim Drake, Replacement, and some deal they had behind my back. Or guilt but money is always a more motivating factor. There was no reason for either of them to care, especially after I tried to kill Replacement. The least I could do was let them experiment on me and pretend to care.

“Why are you using my stuff anyway?”

“Because like the commercial says it works great on blood,” Roy informed me coming back into the main room. He’s got no shirt on and most of his tattoos are showing. On his left shoulder, he’s got a new one. “Liam” written in Roman Italics with her birthday under it in Roman numerals “I don’t want it to settle and stain permanently so I’m soaking it. Artemis gave me that shirt for my birthday last year and it’s like my favourite. Besides, you should see the other guy. I’m like ninety-nine point nine sure his mom was a goat or something because he tried to freakin headbutt me twice while trying to mug me! I fucking hate Gotham.”

I almost say I’ll drink to that and take a sip of my beer but I stop myself. I’d been planning on dumping it before he’d gotten here but had gotten so wrapped up in planning tonight's stakeout and pondering the events of the previous night. Instead, I just laughed it off with the casual “same”.

“Then why do you live in this dump?”

“You literally just said it was nice!” 

“Yeah. the place itself is nice but the stacked up dishes ruin it for me,” He started collecting forgotten dishes and glasses from throughout the safe house. I’d been planning to clean up before he came but never actually brought myself around to doing it after telling myself for countless days I was going to “This place only has four fucking rooms and you never have any guests. How the hell do you accumulate this amount of mess?”

“It’s not that messy! I’ve been eating off of paper plates for like the last week anyways,” I tried defending myself but Roy just shushed me and put up his shoulder-length fiery hair in a man bun. 

“Just focus on your creepy murder board and let me clean. Now, where’s your mop? Nevermind I’ll find it on my own,” 

Before I could have objected he strutted into the kitchen to tackle the dishes, pretending to roll up his imaginary sleeves. Ever since he’d gotten Liam back he’d taken up the role of dad in every aspect of his life. I’d been in the room when he’d both gotten the news that Liam was being taken away and that he was getting her back. Both times he cried on my shoulder so hard that it was soggy and had remnants of snot. It made me happy to see him stepping up in life and made me feel bad that he was helping me tonight. He’d worked so hard to prove to the Starling City Child Protective Services that he was responsible and a well-suited parent with a safe environment. The case had lasted almost a month with constant check-ins and visits to court. The stress was so much that I worried that he was going to get so frustrated and throw everything to run back to addiction but he never did. He fought until she was back in his arms and her room back in his new place in Bludhaven. One wrong move tonight and that work was all for nothing. Even though it was standard there were still risks. Even from the kitchen, I could hear him counting down from ten and restarting under his breath, an exercise he learned in rehab to do when he was stressed. 

I slumped down on the couch accidentally getting a whiff of dust in my lungs. As I began a coughing fit it felt like there was something else in my lungs but I’d grown used to it over the years. I always figured there would be side effects to resurrection and digging yourself out of your own grave to be thrown in a magic pit but I always figured they’d be more psychological rather than physical. For the most part, they were but there was always the occasional kick in the gut reminder of six feet worth of dirt pouring in on you after you’ve scratched your way through the lid of your cell. I couldn’t help but wipe my brow remembering how hot it was with the closed space mixed with the dirt and dust. The couch was so dusty that maybe Harper’s cleaning spree could be the only thing to save it. I’d tried slapping it with a broom and vacuuming it but nothing seemed to work. It was as old and smelled like the previous owners were when they sold it. It had been stolen from an antique furniture shop downtown who’s truck I managed to stop and then proceeded to “citizen arrest” the thieves. They were a couple of Penguins goons who said that Penguin would rain down hell but I was in regular clothes so I couldn’t interrogate them. I’d been planning on interrogating them last night but when I got to the police station, after being delayed, they’d been released. Though the owner, an old lady with Walmart pink hair and a mean cat, had forced me to take the couch along with a box of both new and leatherback books. I hadn’t gotten around to looking through them but sitting on top was Frankenstein, one of my favourite books as a teenager. I used to read it all the time when I lived in Wayne Manor in the library. I used to spend so much time there that instead of taking pictures of me at social events, Bruce would take pictures of me reading in the library. He said it was more natural and the only time he ever saw me genuinely smile in a picture was when I wasn’t paying attention and reading. 

The truth was I wasn’t much of a reader when I first arrived at Wayne Manor. I could barely read at all since I was only nine and had stopped going to school completely around the age of six to take care of my mom. The only reason I spent so much time in the library was that it reminded me of the Gotham City Library but a lot bigger and that it was open so there were never any surprises. Despite all the time that I spent in the library I didn’t pick up a book until I’d been in the house for four months when my fourth-grade teacher had assigned us an assignment with our favourite book. I didn’t have one so I picked the book that I knew had a scary monster in it. That was the first time I read Frankenstein though I didn’t fully understand it besides the point that the monster was the doctor. Roy liked to joke that I only liked it because Dr Frankentein reminded me of Batman since they're both crazy. Maybe he did remind me of Bats a bit since they both created a sort of monster but tonight it had me thinking more about the young girl from the previous night. It was a weird connection but something about it all was wrong. I know I shot her hand because there was blood but no wound for it to come from. 

“Hey Harper, how olds Liam nowadays?” 

“Twelve but,” he pulled out his phone and began scrolling to find something “Her birthday is in fifteen days, twelve hours, twenty-four minutes, and thirty-six seconds according to this Instagram timer she created. By the way, I was wondering if you’d want to come to Bludhaven for her birthday? You could come to check out the cool house we’re renting as well as the kitchen. I’ve already received like a billion texts from Liam about how Artemis forced her to eat peas and you’re the only one of us who knows how to cook. But you clearly don’t,” He said gesturing to an empty pizza box on the barely standing coffee table laughing. As he got up and threw it away I contemplated his offer. There was a reason I wasn’t living in Bludhaven in a nice rented house instead of a messy lousy apartment. I wanted to accept but then the girl from last night’s face flashed through my mind of her crying because she believed she’d killed a man while clutching her bleeding hand and I knew I couldn’t. 

“So what do you know about metahumans? Especially like ones that heal fast,”

“I mean its a very rare that the metagene could produce that powerful effect but like not impossible so there are a few. Most metas got their abilities through what was around them or how their metagene was activated,” He sat down on the couch and leaned back. His eyes met mine and I could see the gears turning in his mind like his eyes were windows into a gigantic machine. He began speaking in a more calm therapy like tone “Why do you ask? Better yet why aren’t you answering my previous question and move forward?”

“Because I shot a kid!” I yelled, jumping up angrily. My fist found its way into the nearest wall before I could stop myself. It left behind a decent size hole that I’d have to plaster later but right now I couldn’t focus. It was the first time I’d actually admitted what I’d done to myself as well as out loud, “They were rubber bullets but I still took the shot at a scared kid,”  
.  
“Explain to me what happened,” 

“There’s nothing to explain!” 

“Jason, explain to me what happened,” Roy repeated calmly from the couch. I angrily flopped back down onto the couch bringing up another layer of dust and memories. Roy said that he’d made a note that he’d clean the cushions later but to tell him exactly what had happened. He put his arm around my shoulder and gave me a comforting squeeze as I explained everything from the couch all the way to dropping the girl off at the station. I didn’t remember if I’d gotten her name or not as the cops dragged her away after declaring they’d been looking for her which weirded me out. As I finally explained the whole situation and everything that had happened, I realised a lot of small details I’d missed at the moment. Roy stayed quiet through the entire explanation nodding his head slowly urging me to continue. I could tell he was listening to every detail carefully soaking in the story rather than stone facing it. That’s what Replacement and Dr Thoampskins did even if they didn’t realise they were doing it. Listening out for the details they needed and nothing else. That’s why I didn’t tell them much and I told Roy too much. He listened to me talk about shooting an innocent kid, who had been through god knows what that was just trying to get by in modern-day Gotham, and rationalizing it. That was the reason I had to stay in Gotham while he was in a nice rental in Bludhaven with his family. 

“Jaybird, we’re going to work on this. We’re going to work on you,” He said, checking his phone “I’m going to text Artemis and see if I can stay a couple more days and we’ll get through this. I’ll help you clean up you’re place and then maybe we can discuss taking you to a meeting or something,” 

I wanted to yell at him that a meeting couldn’t help me but I knew that meetings were his stronghold and that I couldn’t be the one to bomb it, “No, you have to get home to Liam,” 

“They’ll be fine and I could use a break. Parenting is a lot harder than I thought you know,” he slumped down even farther into the couch cushions before immediately regretting it, “Besides now I’m making this couch my new personal mission. No wonder you got it in an antique shop for free because no one would pay a dime for this piece of shit,” 

I glanced at the clock and we had about an hour before the drop was going to happen but the harbour was only about three blocks away and I was mostly dressed “Why do you say parenting is hard?” 

“Well like Liam just came back to live with me and I had to enrol her in school because you know the law but I didn’t have time to find a place yet so I’m having to rent out one which must be hard on her. She can’t put any of her own stuff on the walls or really decorate because she knows she’ll just have to move out at the end of the month. Also, she’s having trouble in school but Artemis has been tutoring her at her house. That’s where she spends most of her time if she’s not in her room. We talk but not a lot and not about serious topics. More about tv shows and movies along with the occasional question about the Justice League. She was super bummed out when she found out I’d mostly quit the Arsenal and Red Arrow stuff. Though she was super excited when I told her that I was coming to help you, you know. She still remembers you despite only meeting you like twice when she was little. It was that magic trick with the coin behind the ear,” 

“Alfred taught me it,”

“Any website on the internet can teach you how to pull a coin out of someone’s ear but she still remembers how cool it was. How cool you are. I just wish I could just go back to being the hero she wants me to be but I can’t constantly be in that state. Like the casual mission here and there is fine but the constant stress, moving, and all the tragedy I can’t handle. Leaving it all behind was good for me but not for her or my wallet. Turns out even with a faulty degree in Computer Science can’t get me more than a couple of shitty freelance jobs with even shitter pay,’

He laughed sarcastically and I awkwardly put my hand around his shoulder as he had. “You are not like…” 

“Drinking or using again?” He gave another sarcastic laugh and grabbed his bag to change “No, I’ve been sober for months and plan to stay that way. The withdrawal symptoms almost killed me last time and I got a little girl whose aunt would kill me if I did manage to survive another round. Besides Jay, you need me to take care of you. I’ve got to look after my two precious babies!”

“Number?” When we formed the Outlaws we used to rate our pain using a number scale. Kory, our alien teammate who never really got hurt so had no use for the scale, accidentally morphed it into a way for Roy to tell us how much he wanted a drink or something harder. He was always honest about it and we knew that after major catatonic events it would be higher. 

He came out dressed in his old Arsenal costume and grabbed his ratty old trucker hat out of his backpack “Three. Rehab actually began to work when I decided that instead of focussing on just getting out that I was going to focus on staying clean,” Before I could say anything he looked at his phone “Oh shit we got to go! Also, Liam says hi,” 

With that, he exited through my window and shimmied down the building's fire escape. I knew he was going to bring up visiting for Liam’s birthday again later but I didn’t want to think about that now. Instead, I laced up my boots and grabbed my nice leather jacket. I was trying to impress Roy in some way or another since I was pretty sure we had something going on. What it was I had no clue but that was a pretty emotional moment and a lot more for just “bros''. But he had Liam and I had my fake houseplant I reminded myself as I put on my mask. I followed Roy as he leapt across rooftops on the way to the pier “Wait up you arse!” 

At the pier, we positioned ourselves out of sight behind a couple of large shipping crates as a couple of new kids entered the dock. There weren’t many adults judging by the goons' height but we couldn’t see their faces behind foggy plastic masks. One of the new kids flipped up their mask to signally he was in charge “That kid looks like he has mayo packets in his pants like twenty-four seven for no reason,” Roy whispered, making me stifle a laugh. We tended to try and make the other laugh after serious situations even if the stakes were high. It was a coping mechanism to see if the other was mad or not though I didn’t know why he’d think I was mad at him for anything. If anything I was proud. 

“What does that even mean?” 

“You know exactly what it means,” 

“So who do you y’all think is Batman?” one of the kids joked as they waited for the boat which was approaching in the distance. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some movement over to the side but I couldn’t get a look of who it was. Below the kids started listing various jokingly answers some of which included actual League members. One said Bruce Wayne which caused an outburst of laughter as Roy and I traded knowing looks. Then someone suggested Oliver Queen. 

I didn’t exactly know what went down between Roy and Oliver over the last two years but I remember one night out of the blue Roy hightailed from Starling to Bludhaven. He showed up at Dick’s place and stayed for a couple of days but it ended up not working out for some reason. He didn’t want to tell me why and I wasn’t going to push it. I hadn’t talked to or about Dick in at least a year so it wasn’t my place to force someone else to. Whenever Oliver’s name got brought up though Roy got very agitated and on edge. He’d start to bouncy his left knee or wobble his right hand. “Did you know about the deal they're talking about? The one with Ollie and Bruce?” 

I shook my head no as the shipment docked. One of the goons went over to open it while there was more movement around the where’d I’d seen it before. One of the kids down below must have heard or noticed it too because they pointed their gun up and tried to see if they could see anyone through the scope. Their attention though was drawn away when one of the kids in masks popped open the first crate. Inside was an array of things but the biggest was a large Bengal tiger. Though he was skinny and weak like no one had fed him in weeks or left him little to no food during the shipping process, he still looked like he could easily kill anyone that went near it making the mobs child labour army in danger. Roy must have had the same idea when he docked his arrow and looked to me for approval to fire. The kids were laughing at something as the arrow embedded its way into the steel crate but quickly their attention was drawn elsewhere.

From where I’d first had seen something dropped down a man in full black body armour wearing a gold owl mask leapt down whilst drawing his blade. His companion did the same on the other side. Talons, the warriors and personal hitmen for the court of Owls, didn’t get involved in mob affairs unless they posed a vital threat to the doomsday cult. The kid who had been smart enough to look through his scope was the first to go as the Talons announced their presence and intentions by slicing open the kids neck. After one just whipped his hand off on the shipping crate like it was mud and not the blood of some kid who may or may not have had someone waiting for him at home. Some of the goons ran off while others began firing their guns but the Talons just manoeuvred through their bullets. I stood up and jumped down to help while Roy fired arrows from overhead. Despite not being able to see the kids faces, I could tell they were in awe that I was helping them. Even if what they were doing was illegal I’d rather not let them die with the only thing they could smell was rotten fish. Besides I’d scare the anarchy and rebellion out of them after I took out the crazy bird people. Then came a sort of familiar “whoosh” overhead and I didn’t even need to turn around to see who it was. 

“We’ll take it from here,” came a deep gravelly voice from behind me who I chose to ignore as I continued shooting. One of the Talons jumped forward to try and strike while both Batman and I simultaneously tried to counter. We weren’t as well in sync as we’d used to and neither of us noticed the other Talon running towards the masked kid who’d pried open the crate. Our heads both shot up when there was a girl screaming and cursing. 

The Talon had grabbed her from behind but was struggling to pick her up since she was kicking and spitting. Suddenly an arrow whizzed across Batman and I’s faces. I thought it was Roy for a second but then an army of archers seen to manifest out of thin air. Their black armour and hoods signified that they were League of Assassin though they didn’t bother with organized crime at all. Something unbeknown to Roy and I was going on to cause trouble involving both the Court of Owls and the League of Assassins. Batman and I both took cover as the sky began to rain down arrows. Red Robin and Robin were trying to gain control over the rooftops but the League had brought an army tonight. Their numbers were too small. Nightwing was trying to get the kids to safety while simultaneously handcuffing them causing more kids to choose between a hailstorm of arrows or juvie. Most chose the arrows and escaped otherways. The Talon though had no plans of shying away from the girl. He gripped her tighter as she struggled and began pulling her backwards. Three other boys were trying to break her loose but only managed to pull her mask off. 

For a second my heart felt like it was going to stop. It was the girl from the previous night. The girl I’d shot at and who’d cried right in front of me because she thought I’d died. She’d been on my mind all day that she didn’t even seem real at this point. More like a figment of my imagination that refused to go away. I had a lot of those. The idea of her had been so thought over that she wasn’t even a person but a concept to me. The concept of the old me. The old me who had used my bloodthirst from the Lazarus pit for a ramage of vengeance that I’d never even achieved. So many bodies dropped just so the man in the cowl ducking next to me would drop one had dropped a hundred more. I hadn’t been in the right headspace then and wasn’t really now but was working on changing who I’d become into something different even though with both Bruce and Joker alive I knew I’d always bear the same weight of anger. Like trying to mould a pot out of clay that had already been half baked. You can change some parts but the rest has just hardened into place. 

“Get back,” the girl yelled as one of the boys managed to get her his gun. It felt like time froze as I realised what she was about to do. After shooting behind her blindly a couple of times and missing, she turned the gun back on herself and shot through her chest a couple of times. The Talons armour was not designed to take such an impact that it penetrated the suit and killed him. His body went limp around the girl as she struggled to breath and regain her balance. She looked shocked and frightened at what had happened and what she’d done. Her face twisted with guilt as her eyes looked down at the body. All of a sudden the arrows stopped. The League of Assassins were retreating. I looked back from where the other Talon was and he was gone. Vanished leaving his comrades body. The girl slowly stood up and took a deep breath in as Nightwing ran over to help her. 

“We have to apply pressure to that. Robin, call an ambulance! You’re going to be okay. Just fine. The paramedic and hospital will fix you up good as new but I just need you to stay calm right now. Breath in and out. In...and out. In ….and..”

“I’m fucking fine so get away from me, creep!” with that, she normally walked over to her friends and then flipped me off “So much for that fucking social worker.” 

With that, she stormed off as her friends followed. Everything from the crates, even the tiger, had been taken but not by the Talons or the League. Red Robin and Robin jumped down from the rooftops and awaited Batman’s orders while Roy joined me at my side. 

“Robin, Red Robin, follow Rachael and make sure she gets back to Wayne Manor. They may stop but if she attempts to stay the night anywhere else bring her back to the Manor. Make sure they don’t see you and that you aren’t being followed,”

With that, both Red Robin and Robin disappeared into the darkness followed by the faint sound of motorcycle engines. So Bruce knew who the girl was and was keeping her at Wayne Manor, but why. The social worker who'd called said that she didn’t even get to talk to the girl. Bruce knew a lot more about the situation but of course, he was going to hide it and try to take care of it himself. This operation happened in my territory though which was an unspoken spot where the Bats didn’t go except now it was crawling with them. As well as League of Assassins and the Court of Owls goons on top of that. I had the right to demand information.

“Bruce, what the fuck is going on!” Bruce just ignored me while Nightwing softly muttered “Jaybird” under his breath. Even Roy looked surprised but kept quiet and had my back. As Bruce diddled with his watch calling forth the batmobile acting as if I didn’t exist like I was just a fallen soldier or a mistake he could ignore, I lost it. I grabbed him by the seams of his cap and forced him up against the wall. My helmet and his cowl made it so we couldn’t see each other's eyes but I could tell that he was glaring. I made sure he knew I was glaring back as I gripped tighter “This is my territory. Arsenal and I had the situation. It only fucking escalated when you showed up. Why is that? Also, what's with the kid? Killing another Robin, I see,”

“Jason,” Nightwing said, pulling me off him. My hands were still clenched in anger and Roy looked like he wanted to punch Dick while simultaneously kicking him in the balls. “Breakfast tomorrow,”

Both Roy and I went “huh” while Batman tried to silence him “Nightwing don't, we don’t have enough information on the….”

“Bruce you shouldn’t have had any information in the first place! Talia went to you and not Jason because you’re the mother of her child and a lot easier to find. It’s Jason’s right to know not yours goddammit! I know exactly what you are going to do. You saw what that kid could do so she’s going to become a la experiment. How can she help the Justice League? You’ll tell yourself you're protecting her but you're using her. You use everyone. And don’t bullshit me like you were going to tell him. If it was up to you he’d never know. In fact, if it was up to you he’d be locked up in Arkham,” He took a breath and calmed down as Bruce just stared at him in disbelief and anger. Something must have happened to cause an outburst that big because usually, Dick didn't talk like that to Bruce without running away to join the Teen Titans right afterwards. But no, he stood and calmly turned to talk to Roy and me “I know we aren’t all on the best of terms but there's something you need to hear, Jason. I can’t discuss it with you now because there's a lot to explain as well as a lot more we haven’t found out yet but I’m asking please just come to breakfast. The both of you.”

I was about to flat out say no when Roy answered instead “What time?”

Dick smiled softly and you could tell he wanted to say something else but was holding it “How about seven? It gives us an hour to talk before breakfast and Bruce and I can explain everything while you can decide how you want to proceed with everything,”

The tone in his voice sounded genuine as well as serious and I could tell that Bruce was grinding his teeth out of fury that I decided to go. “We’ll be there BUT if you try to pull any shit we will use lethal force,”

The Batmobile pulled up and Batman stomped over to the driver's seat while Nightwing manoeuvred his way into the passenger seat before Bruce could drive off, “Please, those were rubber bullets. You can’t even kill a pigeon with those. Anyway, see you guys tomorrow.” 

With that, they drove off into the night leaving Roy and me in an empty harbour with a dead body. I sat down on an abandoned crate while Roy went to search the Talon and try to remove his mask. After several attempts, there was a loud ripping sound like a thread being broken. “Oh shit Jaybird, the mask is sewn on.”

“Did he have anything else?”

“Umm this,” It was a picture of the girl that he’d grabbed who was also last night. Something in my gut told me that I’d be seeing her a lot more after tomorrow and whatever news Dick had, “Sorry I got you into going to breakfast tomorrow. We can bail if you want.”

“Nah, it sounded important,” I shrugged it off and helped him up. It was already super late and I didn’t feel like doing anything. We were supposed to be at Wayne Manor in less than five hours. I decided to lighten the mood and take Roys mind off of what just happened “Besides it's late and I don’t think there's anything else to do tonight but patrol or we could just go watch a movie at the drive-in. There's this great place on the building across the street's roof with the perfect view. Used to take dates there and hang out when I didn’t want to patrol.” 

“Oh..um..dates, huh,” He awkwardly laughed and then turned away. When he turned back his face was almost as red as his suit “Yeah sure let's..um...go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should the next chapter be in Rachael, Jason, Dick or maybe even Roy's POV? Have ideas for all four on how they'd react and think but wondering the best route to take. So let me know and thank you so much for reading.


	9. Study Of The Angry and Tired

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so someone commented on the timeline and I'll admit: it's completely messed up. I tried to fix it so here's where everyone is at in ages in the book. Also, I change the Epilogue from two years to four years. 
> 
> Here's how it is in my head. Rachael was born after Jason came back to life but before he became the Red Hood. I'm just going to say that the kids, in the beginning, Rachael, Alex, and Lola, were not alive and therefore don't know the times but the lore of "Jason Todd". (This is due to me not being able to keep track of everything sorry again!) Rachael spent two years dead and two years alive before returning to Gotham so she just turned sixteen about to turn seventeen. She doesn't even remember her exact age or a lot about certain stuff. (All I can say now but more will be revealed) Roy didn't know her exact age in the hospital and was guesstimating (is that a word?) on the way that Rachael looked. She's very scrawny and underfed. I'll try and make these details more prevalent. Damian is sixteen about to turn seventeen (I missed this detail and slipped up on writing, thank you!) and Daniel has just turned sixteen. I'm going to say that Damian arrived when he was about ten. Rachael and he were born in the same year but like he's far more advanced in.. about everything that it doesn't feel like it
> 
> Please let me know if anything else needs to be cleared up! 
> 
> ALSO, THERE ARE THINGS REFERRING TO THE COMICS BUT I THINK I EXPLAIN THEM OR THEY ARE NOT THAT MAJOR OF A DETAIL FOR THEM NOT TO BE A PROBLEM IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE OUTLAW COMICS

Jason’s POV:

The movie was nice and made me take my mind off of whatever news Dick had. Roy and I were sitting on a rooftop too far away to hear the movie so Roy was making up his own dialogue. I was only half-listening and laughing along while I also was deep in thought. I hadn’t been to Wayne Manor since I was Robin. My teeth clenched just thinking about how the last time I’d been there was when Batman had stuck me to monitor duty. The night prior I’d broken the collar-bone of a low-level methamphetamine dealer. He went into shock and Batman pulled me away as the police began to arrive. His grip had been harder than usual and it mixed with the police sirens and lights gave me an unsettling nostalgic feeling about my dad. I'd been thinking of him lately and something in my gut told me I shouldn’t be with Bruce. That I didn’t deserve to be where I was.

No matter how much Alfred tried to convince me that I was wrong I knew I was right. I hated fancy galas and events because I was always labelled as Bruce Wayne’s charity case. Bruce tried to connect in his own way but he was terrible at it. He’d tried telling me that Dick felt the same and went through the same stuff I did but he didn’t. Dick was popular in school and had friends. He ran the Teen Titans and proved that he didn’t need Batman or college to become successful. Became his own hero that stood far away from the shadow that Batman’s cowl cast. When Bruce had first picked me up, Dick Grayson was just a whisper in the halls. There were pictures but no one dared bring up his name since Bruce had fired him. That should have been the first red flag. 

Bruce had fired Dick because he’d gotten shot as Robin on patrol. They’d had this huge fight where afterwards Bruce swore he’d never endanger another life like Dicks again. Only took about a month for him to find me trying to steal his tires. That was always the difference between the other Robins and me; I was doomed from the start. Barbara Gordon had been the first person to even mention Dick around me. After a lot of pestering, she finally told me what had happened. When I first heard what had happened I thought Bruce was overreacting and that it wasn’t a big deal but it bothered me as I rode alongside him in the Batmobile that night. I’d figured out then that Dick was worth the risk to Batman and I wasn’t but something wouldn’t just let me admit that. I had to prove it myself before truly seeing the horror of it. 

“Why’d you fire Dick Grayson,”

“Where’d you hear that?” Batman said coldly, staring ahead not even bothering to glance over. I shrugged because I felt like my lips had been too chapped to speak. It felt like as I watched him I saw more and more what everyone else did; fear. “The job was too dangerous and I didn’t want my son’s death on my hands. He’s meant for greatness and my vendetta and life can’t be the reason his ends,”

“What about me, though,” 

The rest of the ride was in silence and both Batman and Bruce Wayne avoided my eyes for days. People use to tell me that Bruce laughed more around me but that wasn’t true. He was quiet, secretive, and only showed disappointment in me when others weren’t around. Once Dick came back he almost completely ignored me. Dick came and went but still, he was the favourite as I sat at the Batcave computer awaiting orders. Of course, there were times when he wanted to play house like at Christmas, galas, and once when I was sick. It was my best memory but I don’t remember it anymore by choice. A mission that the Outlaws and I were on to do with my past with the All-Caste where our most treasured memories were taken as insurance. I figured I didn’t need mine. 

“Hey, Roy,” I asked, snapping out of my anxiety-driven thoughts, “Remember that time we had to surrender our greatest memories to S’aru. Just out of curiosity but what was yours?”

Roy laughed “It’s kinda dark but I went to find “Killer Croc” one night to like..I don’t know... to end it,”

“End it?” 

“Yeah, I was really messed up and just felt useless. It was right after Liam was removed as well as my final fight with Ollie and I felt like I couldn’t go on but instead, I found Waylon. He wasn’t willing to do it and instead just sort of talked to me. It was a weird experience but I checked into rehab the very next day. He pledged to sponsor me and he still does,” he let out another laugh while my heart was slowly shattering “Amanda Waller, the A.R.G.U.S warden, lets me talk to him via skype whenever I need to. She owes me and I figured it’s a better use of a favour than a shit ton of explosives. Even though explosives would be more fun. What was yours?”

I knew what it was and what happened but I couldn’t picture it in my head or remember how I felt. There were no details or feelings, just a rough plotline of what had happened. In a way, it seemed worse than not remembering it completely. I remember being sick with the flu and I got to miss school which I was really happy but then Alfred informed me I couldn’t go on patrol. Alfred had told me to text some friends and get my assignments from school but I didn’t have friends at school so I just texted Roy “hi” and a bunch of gibberish to look like I was doing it. Then Alfred brought me a large bowl of soup but I couldn’t recall what kind or if I liked it or not. Batman was already dressed in his cowl and I began to follow him to the Batcave in my suit, I’d been hiding it from Alfred under the large blanket I was wrapped in, but instead, Batman sat me back down on the couch and turned on the tv. He put his arm around me and said something that I had since been lost. The next thing I remember was the next day. The day Dick came back and I knew it was all over. 

“Heh, I can’t remember,” 

“Oh yeah sorry, I forgot,” Roy looked away from the film and looked up like he was trying to recall something “did that girl look familiar to you? The one that got grabbed by the Owl-man-thing,”

“Yeah,” I sighed “she’s the kid I shot,”

“Well considering what we saw her do I don’t think a hundred bullets are going to do anything to do damage to her much less one. Do you think she’s a meta or like an alien or maybe superhuman? I swear she looks so damn familiar for some reason,” He put his hand on my shoulder “But you’re thinking about the principle again, aren’t you? Jay, you’re a good person, hell one of the greats, but you don’t allow yourself to believe that for some reason I don’t know why..”

“Roy shut up,”

“I’m just trying to..” then I kissed him. I don’t know why but in my mind it seemed like something I had to do at that moment even though I immediately regretted it. He poured his soul out to me and this is how I repaid him. Though it had been super cold and sitting on a rooftop in the wind didn’t help it but I felt warm as I kissed him. His fingers began to lace through mine as I began to pull away with an apology on my lips before he kissed me all on his own. We just sat there in our own warm little bubble of heat, completely ignoring the film, potentially making out. It was both great and weird at the same time. It felt like we could have stayed there forever but then Roy’s phone vibrated.

He pulled away and checked it “Oh shit, it’s Dick. Guess it’s time to go. You sure you’re okay with doing this?

“Yeah”

With that, Roy got up and went to find a place to change. We both had packed regular clothes not thinking we’d need them but I didn’t feel like Ubering to Wayne Manor as the Red Hood no matter how funny it would be. My mind wandered back to what had just happened as I stared at where Roy had been only sitting prior. Another thing Dick unknowingly ruined. ‘

Dick’s POV:

I texted Roy a reminder about breakfast and talking before, praying that he and Jason would show up. Jason had my number block but there was a little chance Roy didn’t. Though I didn’t blame him if he did. The last time I’d seen him, he’d stormed out in the middle of a blizzard with no shoes and a t-shirt, leaving his stuff behind at my house. It was all still in my garage even in my new house in Gotham just waiting for him to retrieve it. Instead, he ended up on death row in a prison in Marcovia. 

The whole Justice League had told me that I couldn’t help him and that a member with any association to the Justice League would cause an international crisis if spotted. After that, I was put under strict surveillance because I was known to break rules and go off and do my own thing. My own thing had been calling up a mutual friend of both Roy and I, Tony, who ran guns for hire business. I’d been in his ear the whole time, even when he and his crew figured out that the only way to get him out was in the cell right before he was to be executed. Then a preacher showed up causing the opening to close as they brought Roy outside to pray. Next thing I know was Tony lost sight of Roy before yelling about a fire princess and a man in a red helmet. The future Outlaws.

I’d often wondered what would have become of Roy if Tony had saved him. He would have had to live his life on the run never seeing his daughter again. It still baffled me that the court did let him see as well as care for his daughter though but I'd heard that they had had some “persuasion”. Though I’d always considered him one of my best friends, I always sort of knew that Roy had been closer to Jason even when they first met. Jason was fifteen while Roy was seventeen but they got along like they’d known each other forever. Both had known what it was like to live alone on the streets while I’d gone from the circus to the custody of Bruce after my parent’s death. Roy had a hard time talking about his childhood but one day when he was over at the Manor, after a fight with Oliver, I overheard him telling Jason all about it while they were lying on the trampoline outside. He even included details I’d never heard. 

Roy told Jason all about how his parents died in a fire in the forest but the local Native American tribe chief, Chief Thunderhead, had taken him in as his own son despite already having one. This led him and his half-brother to fight a lot while Roy began to drink. The chief tried to steer Roy in a different direction other than crime by teaching him archery as well as other skills. He even explained he always wore a leather braided bracelet around his arm every day because his dad, Chief Thunderhead, helped him make it when Roy first started trusting him after losing his real parents. Though he often disobeyed Chief’s morals falling deeper and deeper into crime until one day it went too far. 

Roy broke into a liquor shop when he was fourteen and had gotten hammered. When he woke up, he was back on the small ranch with a bow lying next to him. In the small ravine that the house overlooked was his father with an arrow in his chest. He’d bleed to death from a head injury, according to the coroner’s report, but Roy was so startled and felt so guilty that he ran. Grabbed all his stuff and stole the neighbour’s car to drive to Star City where he eventually broke into a mall and met Oliver Queen. Not before surviving on the streets alone for a while first though. 

“I know I didn’t kill him but I can’t remember why the bow was even out or how I got home. I bet it was the Sheriff though. That nasty son of a bitch always had it out for the native reserve I lived on because it was in the middle of where LexCorp wanted to build a new factory. They used to argue all the time about it and the Sheriff used to degrade anyone he deemed lower, like Chief Thunderhead. Actually I know in my heart he did it because killing changes a man by turning him into a monster, Chief Thunderhead used to say, and he was a monster. One day I’m going to get my revenge,” 

“Yeah, you should. It’s what you and Chief Thunderhead deserve,” Jason said sighing and looking over at Roy “One day I’m going to get revenge on that son of a bitch, Penguin, for locking my dad up,”

“Oh, I’m sorry,”

“Don’t be. I’m glad the fuckers dead. He’s the reason I’ve got this,” I watched Jason sit up and pull his long sleeve shirt to show Roy his arm. There was a long squiggly cut alongside his bicep. Roy reached out to touch it by then Jason flexed making Roy jump back at the movement, “It reminds me of my dad for some reason. Not because he gave it to me but because he used to have a Batarang tattoo right there where Batman had cut him with a Batarang. He used to fancy himself the king and nicknamed me the “Prince of Gotham”. He’d probably be shitting bricks if he saw where I was today,” 

“Do you ever feel like you don’t belong?” 

“All the damn time, you?”

“Yeah, I feel like I’m not what Oliver Queen or the Green Arrow needs. I just don’t feel like a hero since I’ve done so many things wrong in my life,”

“I don’t really fancy myself a hero, Dick’s the hero. I fancy myself more of an outlaw of sorts,” 

“An outlaw?”

“Yeah, it sounds cooler and chicks dig it more. Wanna be an outlaw too?”

“Sure!” 

“Then it’s settled,” Jason announced, putting his shirt back on and I could feel myself getting more and more jealous. First, he replaced me after Bruce fired me and then he decided to take my best friend. I’d had enough and decided to intervene “We’ll be outlaws together!”

“Hey guys,” I interrupted just as they were about to pinkie-promise “Ever played popcorn? It goes like this!”

With that, I jumped as hard as I could on Jason’s arm which had been in the middle of the trampoline. Later I told Bruce and Roy that it had been an accident and I was trying to bounce them not break Jason’s arm but Jason knew better. As Dr.Tompkins examined the x-rays and explained to Bruce the hairline fracture, Jason just sat there glaring at me. I remember feeling a sense of glee as she wrapped his arm in a cast and forbade him from going out on patrol. He was Bruce’s favourite after all and I’d taken him out for a little while. 

He died four months after that. I looked back on that memory along with countless others of me torturing him in disgust. The truth was Jason didn’t steal only my best friend he made his. I had Wally and the whole Teen Titans along with the whole Young Justice squad to surround me while Jason had no one but Roy. Roy was the only one who didn’t write him off like a cheap replacement like I’d gotten everyone else too. I’d gotten everyone to think so poorly of him by constantly spreading around the story of him stealing Batman’s tires like it was stupid and not totally cool like it was. Looking back I was jealous and made sure that everyone made Jason feel left out and isolated like he was an outsider. That’s how he died, believing he was a worthless outsider, all because of me. Part of me still felt ashamed fr feeling a sliver of an unknown appealing feeling about that when I’d first heard he’d died. 

I was brought out of thought by a sharp tap on the shoulder. It was Bruce, out of costume and in a casual business suit, with Alfred at his side “They’re here. You better know what you’re doing because I did not plan for this to happen before we knew more information.” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I reassured him collecting all the files and finishing the quick speech in my head, “Send them in,” 

They both sort of shuffled in instead of the annoying cocky strut I’d become used to when dealing with matters concerning the Outlaws. There weren’t many but there were a few times despite being hated by almost all three members. Something about them seemed off. Like they both weren’t looking at each other and instead stared straight ahead but every so often Jason would look over at Roy before quickly snapping his head forwards. Moments later Roy would do the exact same. I didn’t know if they were doing it to throw me off or what but it was definitely working. 

“Thank you for com-,”

“Spit it out, Dickie. I kinda want to get out of this “little house of horrors” as soon as fucking possible,” Jason snapped angrily causing both Roy and I to flinch a bit. Bruce though didn’t move a muscle as he sat in his big office chair observing. It sort of felt like one of those simulators where anything you do ends up failing. Roy let out an awkward giggle at Jason’s reference to I think to try and help me break the ice but it sort of just made things more awkward. I shot him an appreciative smile though but it only seemed to make Jason angrier “Well Golden Boy, why’d you gather the freaking council? Is this another one of Drake’s stupid plan or do you actually have viable information on what happened at the docks? If not I’m leaving,”

“It’s not one of my plans,” Tim said entering the room and Bruce’s scowl deepened, “I said I was sorry and that I wasn’t ever going to try anything like that again.” 

I didn’t know what Tim was referring to but Jason muttered “damn right” under his breath as he stared Tim down. Roy raised his hand as if he was going to put it on his shoulder to calm him down but must have thought against it as he quickly put it back behind his back. My head was swimming and I didn’t know what to say. My mind hadn’t anticipated him being this angry. Something had to have happened in the last couple of hours to really shake him up since it looked like they hadn’t gone home. Both Jason and Roy were dripping in sweat despite their faces being pink from the cold though Roy’s more than Jason. I silent just pushed the file across the desk towards Jason. Roy, Tim, and Bruce stared at the handoff like I’d given an active bomb to the Joker. He picked up the file and skimmed it in confusion looking for key names and points instead of reading it carefully.

“I’m sorry Jason,” I started and Roy looked up at me with so much anxiety as Jason just stared at the file, “Maybe there’s a mistake or something,” 

“There’s no mistake,” Jason said quietly soaking in all the details. Maybe it wasn’t healthy for him to basically be rereading his end but he stood still reading with no facial movements “Should have fucking known,” 

“Known what?” Roy chimed in and Jason just chucked the file back at him. He caught it giving Jason an annoyed look before flipping through the file “Wait, I don’t understand?”

“Neither do I!” Jason yelled at Bruce practically getting in position to lung at his throat “But if the files true then why the hell do you have it,”

Jason’s POV

Dick pushed a large file with paper and pictures sticking out towards me. The whole room was silent and Bruce was watching me like a hawk. Or more of an active bomb which was probably more accurate. I didn’t know how I was feeling or what to do with what had happened between Roy and I and now on top of that, I had to deal with whatever was in this file. We’d Ubered over and Roy had decided to sit in the front with the driver and make small talk about his family. There was no way things were going back to normal or ever going to be like semi-prior kiss times. I was all alone again.

The first page of the file was a long report filled out in black drippy ink with the League of Assasin’s seal in green wax on the top. If I hadn’t known the League was so out of date I’d think it was from a hundred or something years ago but the date was from only four. Before reading it I thumbed through the other pages, one was an old contract while the rests were receipts and photographs of the girl on the dock. The last photo though caught my attention.

It was of her but her hair was shorter and she was covered in blood unconscious whilst wearing my old Robin suit. Tim had hinted at the idea that Bruce hadn’t taken down my old suit but instead that it had been stolen though he’d never quite said it. The proof was in the pudding though. It took me a second to realise where it was taken but then a white seam caught my eye. Though it looked like she was lying on a bed or a fluffy cloud it was the lining of a coffin. My eyes were transfixed on the photo trying not to imagine a scenario where it would have been taken until I read the ink words at the bottom “Subject prepped. Situation replicated”. Part of me was praying that this was a sick twisty disgusting joke but I knew Bruce didn’t have a sense of humour and neither did the League. 

She looked like the perfect blend of her mother and me. In a way, she looked like my mother or at least her features did. Everyone always told people I had my mom’s upturned “cute” nose but I could really see it in her face. Like she could have been my mother’s sister. There was a list of her features, hobbies, and everything she tended to do which looked sort of like a product description from Amazon along with a timeline. Two years were completely missing while the next two years were almost empty. There were only things like “spotted Star City General” and vague cities like “Philadephia” “Central City”, and “New Orleans”. It said she was sixteen which seemed about right when I counted back but her birthday must have been close. 

“Jay?” I heard softly behind me but it felt millions of miles away. I felt millions of miles away. It felt like I should have known or had an inkling that I had… a daughter. Parents always talk about how there’s always a part of them with their child but I didn’t even know mine existed. Failure and anger seeped through my veins. I hadn’t known but also Batman was never going to tell me. 

“I’m sorry Jason” Dick tried to say comfortingly. He didn’t get it though because he had a son the same age as Rachael born a little less than a year later that he got to know. His son knew his father and knew that he was loved. My daughter didn’t. My daughter grew up without a father. “Maybe there’s a mistake or something,” 

I don’t know why that comment made me so mad because Dick was always trying to help. That’s what he always did was help. He was the “Golden Boy” and the hero while I always got screwed. It wasn’t a mistake and I knew it. Back after l escaped the League of Assassins; I was taken in by the All-Caste, a warrior clan that had been around since the beginning of time. The Outlaws and I had recently helped them out with and that is how I’d lost my “my precious” memory. While I was there several of the higher up members including Durca, their sort of queen, had referred to me as “the chosen one” because I wielded the all-blade. The only human that was ever able to do that. But the All-Caste had an old legend or what they considered a prophecy that a baby born between a princess and the “chosen soul from beyond” would be close the gap between life and death. The only reason I knew it was from Essence, Durca’s daughter who was technically a princess since she was heir to the throne but she never wanted to be a ruler. According to the files she never really was up until a couple of years ago. 

The files she was described almost as a completely different person. She ran away to Gotham to keep tabs on me while keeping the baby, which she named Rachael after what looked like the Friends show. Though she’d never seen tv when we were together it looked like she was catching up while alone in her crappy apartment pregnant. I remember mentioning to her that I used to have a crush on Jennifer Anniston when I was really little and my mom let me watch re-runs. From there on it was a series of alcoholism and domestic abuse reports. Nothing like the strongwilled resourceful warrior I once knew. Every so often CPS would come to take Rachael away but most of the times she magically convinced them not to somehow but still in some cases they did. Essence was constantly battling Gotham for custody of her kid and every time the judge would crown her the winner though I bet she called in a bunch of favours. 

Then she just disappeared back to the All-Caste and got her life back on track and derailing Rachaels. Rachael started with petty crime and then advancing to tire-jacking. Then it was full car-jacking before she started taken moving jobs for gangs and crime families. My stomach lurched adjust thinking of everything she’d gon through. “If I would have been there it would have been different,” I told myself but then my dad’s cigarette ruined voice filled my head “Are you sure about that, son?” 

“There’s no mistake. Should have fucking known,” I said angrily more to myself as I finished reading the file. 

“Known what?” Roy said in the calm voice he used to try and remind me to calm down. I flipped the file back over my shoulder not even turning to look at him. “Wait I don’t understand?” 

“Neither do I? “ I yelled angrily at Bruce “But if the files true then why the hell do you have it,”

“What’s the All-Caste?” Bruce said ignoring my question and anger like he always did “And how are you connected to them,” 

“After you fucking left me die I met them,” I yelled but Bruce didn’t even flinch “Where did you get this file and when were you planning to tell me?”

“Talia gave it to me and I wanted to study and decide what to do first to keep her safe until you ruined that,” 

“Ruined what? You weren’t keeping her safe she was down on the dock moving a freakin tiger with the Court of Owls and League attacking her,” I yelled. He wasn’t getting the point not that he ever did “She’s not protected at all and Talia should have brought this to me not you. She’d my kid not you’re science fair project. The only reason she brought this to you is that you two have some kind of freaky relationship which by the way how does Selina feel about it? Also, have you even told her you’re trying to adopt another kid? My kid!” 

“I was testing out her abilities,” he said while pulling out a journal and casually scribbling down a couple of notes “I knew she was going to sneak out and wanted to see how she tested in the field,” 

“The field? You let her sneak out without knowing what was going on because I’m pretty sure you haven’t informed her of anything since you’re terrible at that and face the League of Assassins along with the Court of Owls alone. You’ve full-on lost it! That’s not the field at all and besides what are you testing for? To see if she can be your new Robin? I guess you’re already sick of Damian and planning to replace him but last I checked their both the same age,” 

Tim and Dick exchanged glances of worry and even though I had my back to Roy I could feel his anxious vibes. Dick spoke up “Well I wanted to teach her to protect herself so I was, well really Tim and I were thinking she join the Titians,”

“The Titans” Roy practically growled remembering his days as a member.

“Well not as a field agent, of course,” Tim spoke up, “But we can train her on how to use her powers or well the healing factor she seems to possess and figure out what else she can do. And I was also thinking that if we figure how she heals we can-” 

“No,” 

“Wait what?”

“I said no,”

“I’m sorry Jason,” Bruce said “I’ve made up my mind. She’ll remain in the Manor and will study at Gotham Academy while helping out the Titans. If you want to have any contact with her you will not let her know who you are as the Red Hood or as her father,”

Now it was my turn to say “Wait what? You can’t fucking do that!”

“What the hell?” Roy yelled behind me and I felt better knowing he was on my side. 

“Yes, I can. The Justice League may have forgiven your crimes do to the use of the Lazarus Pit but the city of Gotham, as well as A.R.G.U.S, have not,” 

“Is that a threat? Just going to send me off to the psych ward again aren’t you, Bruce. Maybe I’ll get the same cell as the Joker! Wouldn’t that be fun,” I said sarcastically “Fine, I’ll play along for now but when she finds out she’s not going to just hate me but as well all you. She knows what survival is. You saw what she did on the dock. That kind of stuff changes anyone,” 

With that, I stormed off angry with myself for not putting up more of a fight. I had a gut feeling that this was going to go down bad but Bruce didn’t see that. Instead, Bruce thought everyone just felt the same as he did; nothing with rare swoops of vengeance. I went to the bathroom to think and just getaway. I’d considered storming out but an Uber would be miles away and I had to meet her. One look that wasn’t during an illegal drug bust or dock shipment. Where she wasn’t struggling and in distress. Though being kidnapped to the Wayne family Manor probably wasn’t the best time to see that but it was my only time. I splashed some cold water on my face and went in sat in the dining room in the farthest chair from the head of the table where Bruce always sat. My leg nervously began to jiggle and I had to admit I was feeling excited despite the circumstances. It was the first time I was going to get to see and meet my daughter! 

Dicks POV: 

I watched Jason go to hide and then caught a glance at Roy. For a moment he looked completely shattered inside before he covered it up. The only times I’d seen Roy look like that was the worst in his life. The main memory that stood out was when he had Liam taken away. Only five hours CPS left his house I found him overdosed on an old disease-infested mattress in the middle of a crack den. He gave me the same look before passing out as I called for an ambulance. His heart was barely beating when the ambulance arrived and the EMT said that if I hadn’t called then and not even ten minutes later Roy wouldn’t have made it. I never told him but the EMT had also said “We usually don’t bother with people like this, but I’ll do it for you Nightwing because my sister lives in Bludhaven. You saved her from a mugging once and this is how I can repay you,” The EMT didn’t understand why that comment made me upset and angry. It was like they were talking about playing God deciding who was worth saving. Roy slipped out of the hospital undetected when he woke up while I was waiting outside. I never found out where he went but the next day he’d checked into rehab. Then his face returned normal in a blink of an eye. 

I decided to try to be like Jason was to him and crack a joke “You almost look jealous,” 

That definitely wasn’t the right thing to say and I felt the need to kick myself immediately. My body froze in pure cringe as he turned to me all serious “You don’t get it, Dick, and I don’t expect you to. I myself can’t even comprehend how Jason is feeling right now. You’ve always had you’re son. You got to see him grow up. You get to teach him to drive. You read him to bed and scared away the monsters in his closet. You got to be there for the important moments in Daniel’s life and it shows! He’s an excellent student and an amazing kid. While Rachael has had known of that. Her mother was in a constant unwanted custody battle with the state until she decided to go back to her supernatural superhero life leaving her kid to fend for herself. I only lived on the streets in Star City for a little while but it was still hard. That file is incomplete and you don’t know whats she’s seen.”

“Roy,” I tried to say comforting, “If this is about Liam-,”

“No, it’s not!” he pointed an accusing finger at both Bruce and Dick “ During the time I lost Liam I missed so much of her life and I will forever regret that. Jason has missed all those moments because he didn’t know they were happening at all. My face was the first she saw when she was born. I got to see Liam’s first steps and hear her say her first word. The day she said “Coco Pops” for the first time I got to celebrate her first words but picking her up and spinning her around to make her laugh. All the times she’d invite friends over for playdates and they’d make up dances or little plays in order to convince me to let her have a sleepover I cherish. Those are some of my greatest memories. The greatest thing I ever did was to decide to get her back and now Jason is trying to take that path. He sees you guys as a bump in the road because you weren’t going to even tell him, Bruce and Dick, you’re treating this like a mission. You both need to be there for him and let him decide what is going to happen,”

“The Titians are final and so is Gotham Academy,” Roy through his hands up in frustration.

“I thought you’d at least get this Bruce! You missed Damian’s first years,” Roy yelled and Bruce sat there stone-faced “If this was any of your other kids you wouldn’t be acting like this but for some reason whenever it comes to Jason you’re a closed-minded jack-ass!” 

Without a word, Bruce got up and walked out very stoically. I saw Roy’s foot move to step back but he stood his ground. “Roy, I should have been there. I should have never let you leave Bludhaven after you first got out of rehab nor should I have argued with you about-,” I froze not wanting to say it, “ If you want I’ll sponsor you?” 

“Don’t need it,” 

“Then who’s your current sponsor? Let me reach out and-,”

“Waylon is still my sponsor even though I know you don’t approve but this isn’t fucking about me. But you’re so selfish you can’t see that!” He pulled back his hair stressed out “You clearly don’t care about what emotion toll this has on Jason, you’re own fucking brother, but you’re standing here doing what? If this is some half-ass apology about punching me in the face and basically calling my life a waste, which I’m pretty sure it’s not, then just fucking don’t. You said everything you need. Now you and Bruce are just trying to degrade Jason as you did me. You’re a fucking asshole,”

“Roy, I’m sorry okay? I was just upset and I shouldn’t have said those things to you while you were in that state but this is different. Bruce isn’t doing anything different because it’s Jason. We both want what’s best for him and I want what’s best for you. You’re one of my best friends and I need you to forgive me, ”

“In that state,” he mocked back and then used his fingers to open his eyes wide as a child would “Dickie are you blind! Of course, Bruce treats Jason different and is acting differently because it’s him. His whole childhood Brue has compared him to you and he’s always come out the failure. But here you are totally closing your eyes pretending not to see it at all. I was wrong you’re not making this about me you’re making it about you. I don’t “need to forgive you at all and besides, you don’t need it anymore anyway,” 

“Roy, I-” 

“Because we’re not friends anymore. Simple as that. I tried Dick but you pushed it too far in Bludhaven. I’m here to support Jason, my best friend, not to give you validation that you “did the right thing” with your totally lame apology,” 

With that, he walked out to and headed to what I assumed was the dining room to get breakfast. He knew his way around the place like the back of his hand from all the times he’d come to hang out with me as a kid. As I thought back to the memories I realised that he never came over on his own but only when Ollie came to talk to Bruce. The only time I’d ever seen him come through the Justice League portal in the Batcave was when Jason called him to go to a memorial service with him but Bruce wouldn’t let them go. One of Jason’s best childhood friends had died in Crime Alley from a stray bullet during a bank robbery. The city had created a memorial around the steps outside of a building, next to the ally he was staying at and where he got shot and were going to hold a candlelit service. Bruce had said it was too dangerous for them to go in that part of town alone but didn’t bother to take them since Scarcrow had gotten loose a couple of days prior. Roy and Jason snuck out anyway and Bruce sent me to go collect them and watch over the memorial while he went to Arkham. 

As I watched from the rooftops it was the first time I’d seen Jason really cry. Ever since I’d come back home from the Titans tower and apologized to Bruce, Jason had only really shown anger. He was never really excited or sad or even bothered, it was just angry or semi-happy with sarcastic jokes and funny remarks. Even then though I knew he was faking it but in the shadows I watched him bawl his eyes out in front of a picture of his friend while various people came up and showered him with comforting words. There was no danger but a community that knew Jason, that knew the boy, remembered that they were friends even despite both their lives changing so much, and came to consol Jason on his loss. I watched Roy wrap Jason into a hug and Jason hug him back so tightly, that even in the darkness I could see the wrinkles where he had been gripping Roy’s shirt while crying into his shirt. I swear I saw Roy blush a little but it was dark. I didn’t want to admit it but at that moment I realise that I was losing Roy to Jason. 

My head was swimming with thoughts of Barbra that I hadn’t been sensitive to Jason’s situation but I knew I had to put on a strong face for Daniel. Everything Roy had said about time and sending it with him was right and I’d shown him that I loved him. Now I needed to show that to him more because of his mother’s absents but also to Rachael as well as Roy and Jason. I composed myself and headed out to breakfast. Hopefully, it would go smooth and according to plan so I could finally get some sleep and begin to process everything that had happened in the last day or so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that was a long and hefty chapter but things are finally moving along! I promise the next chapter wont to be just about one day and one event with a whole lot of repeated stuff. There will be a time change by a couple of days and sort character development(?), it will be good hopefully. Just trust me.
> 
> Also sorry this took along time. Lol I know I'm a broken record but I've been planning my sweet sixteen and I had to move it back a whole month! I can't even confirm a date yet either which sucks but hopefully once I do it will be super awesome. The theme is Enchanted Forest! Everythings going to be super like home-made and DIY with tons of fairy lights. I'm so excited! 
> 
> Let me know what you think of the chapter!


	10. A Makeover Or A Strategically Placed Masked

f Rachael POV: 

Once I got back to Wayne Manor I beelined straight to my room and hid. I still had no idea what would happen and why I was there so I took precautions. My body was begging me to sleep but my mind warned me against. My body eventually won though as I sat on the bed and almost fell straight asleep. Even though I wasn’t comfortable with the idea I knew I had to sleep so I took off all the pillows and blankets from the bed and put them in the room’s closet to create a fake dummy if anything were to happen. It dawned on me that Mr Wayne might have been mad about this so I told myself I’d fix then when I got up in a couple of hours. Then I put a chair under the door when I locked it before sliding under the bed to the very back. It was a huge sized bed, maybe king-sized, so it would be for anyone to grab or touch me without me knowing. As I curled up I clutched the antique letter opener in my hands.

My dreams were plagued with nightmares. Horrific terrible nightmares. Some were about the docks and the men in owl masks and some were about what looked like another shipping area. The ones about the docks were about when the man grabbed me and I shot through what I thought was going to be my shoulder but my aim was off. I remembered the exact moment I felt his body go limp. The back of my shirt was still stained with his blood when I got into Alex’s car. He gave me a new one and we drove back to Wayne Manor in silence. There was no singing or jokes just complete silence that amplified my thoughts. Instead of running to Alex’s car though I stayed in my dream. I just stayed staring at the body trying to work out my feelings. Only a day prior, I’d cried thinking I’d killed the Red Hood for a second but at that moment I felt nothing. In my dream, an eternity seemed to pass as I just watched the owl-faced man decomposed with the occasional bug or raccoon feasting on his organs feeling empty and frustrated but weirdly powerful. Like the kick supervillains always ranted about and that scared me. In short, I didn’t get that much sleep that night. 

Breakfast was weird. Two new guys were sitting at the table along with the other Waynes. One of them was tall with bright red hair put up in a miserable man bun with tattoos running down both his arms while the other was slightly shorter but way bulker with black hair like everyone else except grey hairs were running through it. The most noticeable was a large panel that had turned fully grey in the front that covered his eyes. I’d seen a lot of people in Gotham who were young and had grey hair because of either stress and/or trauma, usually the lather, but never as bad. ‘Maybe he was one of Bruce’s kids, a secret one that the media had never gotten wind of, that Bruce just..’ I thought to myself before dismissing the theory. There was no evidence other than he had black hair to back it up and the amount of trauma to cause whatever happened couldn’t be orchestrated by one man. I sat next to him though he looked a little surprised when I did and I wondered if I wasn’t supposed to have.

The man looked familiar though, they both did. It felt like I’d met them before but maybe on separate occasions. My brain raked my memory but I couldn’t think of anything until I remember the tour Daniel had given me the night prior. The jet black haired dude was the man in the photo with Dick and Tim. Suddenly warning alarms sounded in my head and I winced as that got louder and began to morph into what seemed like … laughter. Suddenly an image of the man’s picture flashed in my head. It was only there for a second but I could see he looked younger and his hair wasn’t as grey but there was still the large panel in the front. It was being held by an unknown woman. 

I snapped back to reality and my throat felt dry as if I hadn’t drunk anything in a year. As I began to cough, everyone’s heads at the table snapped up in concern which I only met back with a glare. It sort of felt like one of those showdowns they have in old western movies when the two cowboys are about to duel. This town certainly wasn’t big enough for all of us but I knew if I left Bruce would just call Commissioner Gordon so I was left just to just a staring contest for respect. Even the tension was broken with Alfred bringing tons of fruits as well as pancakes and french toast I still felt as if it got its point across when the redhead looked down awkwardly leaving the table to serve and eat in silence. 

“So Rachael,” Dick said, breaking the silence “I know you haven’t spent much time here but I was wondering how you like the house and everything so far? Was your bedroom okay?” 

‘He knows,’ I thought to myself as my mind took off going a million miles a second ‘He knows I snuck out and that I pulled all the sheets off. There must be a camera in the room or something. I have to find a way out before..”

“This wasn’t the most traditional way of bringing you into our lives with the police and the Red Hood,” The guy with the grey streak sort of cringed with his shoulders and I wondered if he’d encountered the Red Hodd before “for that I’m sorry but I want to talk to you about last night?” 

“Last night?” I asked trying to play dumb but it didn’t work. 

“Nightwing saw you,” turns out Alex was right about the Waynes being in bed with the Bats but why though. What did the Waynes have in common with Batman and Robin besides both making futile attempts to save the city from herself? My only thought was I was going to be charged with murder and sent to juvie. I’d only spent about two months in juvie about a couple of years prior and I wasn’t planning on going back. My mind began formulating a plan on how to get out of the Manor and away as fast as possible “He asked for you to come train with the Titans,”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I persisted hoping my guilt wasn’t plastered on my face “I’ve never even met Nightwing! Besides the Bats don’t cross into the Red Hoods territory,”

“He never said where,” Bruce spoke up and I realised I’d played myself. The truth was last night wasn’t even the first time I’d met Nightwing. I’d met him tons of time, the most recent being a few months ago in Central City while working as a henchman for Captain Cold. He was helping Kid Flash by working crowd control as Kid Flash tied up Captain Cold and crew. Every so often he’d show off and do extra flips or an aerial for people's amusement. The only way I avoided jail time was actually because of Kid Flash. As the sirens were flashing and Nightwing was taunting Captain Cold and asking if he could make it snow because summer was too hot, Kid Flash loosened my ties and looked me straight in the eyes. 

“I’ve done some pretty terrible things that I felt I needed to do to survive and I think you have too. I want to help more if I can,” with that he pulled out a pen and wrote down a phone number on a piece of paper faster than a blink of an eye “I want to help your situation and I don’t want you to be too proud to accept it. That is my biggest regret was thinking I couldn’t rely on anyone or talk to anyone when I was a kid,”  
“You’re still a kid though? It’s literally in your name” 

“I’m thirty-seven but I think you’re right about the name. I’ve been thinking of changing it or at least rebranding,” he said, making sure Nightwing or Captain Cold wasn’t looking “ How about I work on the rebranding and I’ll even let you help me think of names if you call this number. It’s not mine but it’s my good friend Iris West-Allen’s organization she sent up for kids like us,” 

Something about that made me giggle as I ran off. I never did call the number but I did still have the piece of paper back in Lola’s apartment. Though it was cool that I had the Kid-flash, now just known as the Flash's number. A little while after that he became just the Flash that was on the Titian while the original Flash was in the Justice League but I always wondered if I had something to do with it. 

I stayed silent as Dick nodded his head in agreement while both the two new guys did a synchronized eye roll and groan, “According to Nightwing there will be a meeting at Titian’s tower to introduce you to the team on Monday after your finished with school,”

“Isn’t Titan Tower like located in San Francisco? It’s literally their main attraction. Also, Edward Nigma Highschool has been closed ever since Penguin and he split ways,” I didn’t go to the Riddler’s school but a lot of people in Crime Alley did. He made the city rename it after him when he kidnapped the Mayor. Legally he’s not supposed to be in charge but everyone knows that he’s got his hand up the principal’s shirt and acting as a ventriloquist. It’s free and has been known to produce some of the finest Ivy-League bond students from even the toughest of areas. 

“Um you’ve sort of been enrolled into Gotham Academy” Tim chimed in. Damian looked pissed and glared in my direction while Danial gave me an excited smile as well as a thumbs up “I’m sure Daniel and Damian will be sure to show you around on Monday but,”

“Oh yeah totally,” Daniel chimed in “I’ll introduce you to all my friends and everything! Also, I’ll help you get caught up on any work that needs to be done but be warned I suck at reading,”

“Sadly, you two won’t be in any of the same classes until maybe next semester since you’re starting the school year a couple of weeks late and there is no record of your current test scores that we can find,” There wasn’t any, though I was fairly good at reading. I hadn’t been in a proper school continuously since around fourth grade but I’d been enrolled in several middle schools with every new foster family I’d run away from. Usually now was the point I’d start to plan my escape but I knew Bruce would just call the Commissioner who’d send out a search party just to drag me right back here. Also, the Commissioner's daughter was the librarian where I, and a lot of other kids in Crime Alley, tended to frequent because they let you use their computers for free and they had heat. “But my friend, Stephanie, is currently in cosmetology school and is coming over tomorrow to help you get ready for your first day!”

My cheeks flushed red and I looked down in embarrassment. Of course, I was going to have to change to go to their big fancy boarding school that probably had uniforms or something. My hair has all tangled and mangy since I only used my fingers to comb it. There was so much dirt and clay under my nails it could probably be used to form a small brick. I hadn’t showered in a couple of days and was too anxious and suspicious to do so here. My legs swung back and forth uncomfortable and all I could think of is how they looked like skeleton bones. Everyone I knew had always been in the same position I was so I never felt like I looked different than anyone else. Looking at all of them and how pristine and fancy they all looked, despite Tim being in a bathrobe and both Damian and Daniel in pyjamas, I felt self-conscious and disgusting. Alfred had laid out clean pyjamas but I was still in the muddy hoodie and jeans I arrived in with the letter opener in my pocket. “Whatever” 

For the rest of breakfast, I was silent and didn’t really eat anything. I’d planned not to eat anything and do a full hunger strike but my stomach was rumbling loud and my body already had a reason for wanting to puke so there was no reason to add another. I nibbled on the eggs a little and they were pretty good. Some of the best I’d ever had. Food did tend to taste better when you are hungry but even if I was stuffed full this would have tasted like they were made for a king. Made me wonder how good the sandwiches from yesterday would have been. 

“Alfie’s pancakes are the best by the way,” the grey-haired dude whispered over at me with a joking smile and I couldn’t help to smile back. I took the smallest pancake and began cutting pieces off of it “I swear he doesn’t make these himself but has like a secret army of chefs do it for him. God knows this house is big enough to hide them without anyone knowing,” 

I giggled and then the red-haired man cracked a loud joke about the food being better than cocaine. The grey-haired man laughed while Dick looked extremely uncomfortable and then I figured out why. Up and down both of his arms the ginger had track marks. I’d seen ex-users often joke about their addiction as a coping mechanism and only their true friends laugh while those who didn’t truly know them had Dick’s reaction. It really showed the dynamic of the trio especially when he looked even more shocked about the laughter. 

“Good one Roy, I haven’t seen Jay laugh like that in a while!”

‘What do you mean? He always laughs like that,”

The rest of the day I mostly hid in my room but Danial did convince me to play chess with him. He asked if we could play in my room since his dad was going to call his mom and he didn’t want to be in between that. I’d never played so he tried to teach me and agreed to go easy on me except it was too confusing for me to understand and remember all the rules, names, and what piece could do what. Danial jokingly told me that he was captain of the chess club but even with that amount of power there was no way he could get me in if I couldn’t even remember which one a pawn. Throughout the game, he was very patient and kind but he seemed sort of distant so halfway through I thought “fuck it” and decided to ask him what was wrong.  
“Hey, are you okay?’

“Yeah, it’s nothing,” 

“Does it have to do with those two guys at breakfast?” 

“Nah,” he sighed loudly and put down the chess pieces “My mom cheated and I ...and I told my dad and broke up my family. I ruined their lives,” 

“No, you didn’t,” I said plainly “She cheated and your dad would’ve found out anyway or she would have left like in the middle of the night,”

“I don’t know,”

“My mom used to do to it all the time,”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said starting putting away the chess pieces “Did you ever feel like guilty for knowing or like did you know? Like how did you like cope and stuff?”

“I don’t know, I never really got attached to either her or anyone she dated or lived,’ I saw his face flashed with sadness and I felt guilty. Something inside me felt happy that I could feel still guilty because for some reason my mind thought it had lost the emotion after what I did, “Though I always hated the look on their faces when they figured out that my mom was cheating on them though. Like all their trust and security sucked out of their face knowing that she wasn’t in love with them anymore or maybe she hadn’t been at all. If it’s any consultation, I’d want to know before I invested so much of myself in that person that when they leave they take most of them with me,”

“I’m afraid that is already what my dad has done,”

“Well, then he gets to build and grow a new part with you! Out with the old and in with the new,” 

“Thanks, I know you’re just trying to be nice and we’ve kinda just met in all but that makes me feel a lot better, in a weird way,” he laughed and pushed back his terribly dyed hair “ I don’t know if you could tell because you didn’t know me before but this secret has changed me. Changed me a lot because I knew no matter what I did my future would change so I decided to change. I dyed my hair and joined a band which honestly despite the secrets and lies from my parents I’m the happiest I’ve ever been especially when writing music!”

“You should write a song about me then!”

“ Yeah, that’s a good idea! No ones wrote a song about the worlds worst chess player ever before,” 

The same two guys were at dinner that night but I sat next to Danial and didn’t eat anything besides a couple of bites of mash potatoes. Alfred had cooked a whole steak dinner with tons of sides but I didn’t feel like eating. There was not a point for me to eat because I knew I couldn’t die or I'd come to think. Why I couldn’t remember but it felt like a curse. Last night haunted me and so did Danial’s conflictions. They conflicted me because I’d never cared that my mother had cheated and broken families like she must have but here was the carnage right in front of my eyes. She used to laugh claiming they were “stupid mortals setting themselves up for failure” as she went along with whatever helpless lifestyle she was living. Despite all her claims about being better, she was worse off than everyone she crossed paths with. Always buy extra foundation to cover up a bruise or hiding her cash from whatever dead-end job she was bound to get fired from. Some nights she would claim she was a princess of another world and that metaphor would always annoy me because I knew what she ruled: mistakes and misery. I’d never actually felt any pity for her lovers like I’d told Danial but looking back I did. They had to put up with that horrid deadbeat of a woman no matter how bad they treated her. 

“I used to be so beautiful. Beautiful and powerful. Though I was stubborn and gave it all up. Gave it all up for you!” She used to say as she’d brushed her long silver-white hair in the mirror as she increasingly grew angrier. Eventually, the brush was bond to leave her hand but whether it hit the glass or my side was always the gamble. “You were supposed to bring me immortality except you, did the opposite.”

I never knew what she meant but I did know that I hated her but loved her in a weird messed up way. It wasn’t that I loved her voluntarily cared for her but something deep inside me needed to do everything in my power to try and “make her better” as well as stay away from her. When I was five my mother first overdosed and I remember thinking I could just go to the neighbours or call nine-one-one but had a moment of hesitation before getting her help. The hesitation scared me and made me wonder why I hadn’t hesitated when I was grabbed. I tried to pull away but I couldn’t. My arms lifted the gun like my body was on autopilot. The pain went through my body like a jolt but it didn’t matter. It mattered that my hoodie was still stained with his blood in the back. I hadn’t even tried to wash it because whenever I thought about it I thought of how I ran back to Alex’s car and silently cried the whole way home while simultaneously feeling empty. Though that’s how I felt a lot these days; simultaneously empty.

I laid awake all night thinking of it until I was summoned for breakfast again. I spent most of the morning just staring at myself in the big vanity mirror that was one of the main focuses of the room. It was big and reflective, like most and hopefully, all mirrors are, and I viewed it as a portal to my future. It wasn’t a good future but it was a future where I was alone and by myself sitting on top of the Gotham city news blimp. It was easy to get on top if you timed it right and trusted yourself enough to jump on or off. Or if you didn’t care if you fell. I didn’t know what option applied to me, especially at that moment, but I knew it was one of the only places I felt alive. Looking up in the sky seeing stars because Gotham was so dark that there was barely any light pollution. There were no stars in Central City, Metropolis, Philadelphia, or Star City. You’d think a city named after its stars would be glowing with galaxies above head but the city would be better off renaming it after the Queen family-like Gotham should do the Waynes because their name was on everything. I don’t exactly what drove me to leave Gotham in the first place two years ago and why I didn’t remember, or at least my mind didn’t want to remember, the prior two years before but I remember missing the view from the blimp just as I was now. I could have stayed there for daydreaming all day if Bruce hadn’t sent his butler to fetch me. By the time Alfred got me I was far away in my deep twisted lonely fate that I hadn’t heard him knock. I only looked up when he knocked a little louder causing the chair I’d put against it to fall. 

“Terribly sorry to bother you but breakfast is on the table if you’re ready to eat,”

“Oh cool,” I said through the door and moved the chair to open it. I hadn’t showered in forever and I was still in the same blood drop stained clothes but my stomach was growling. The bags under my eyes were a dead giveaway that I hadn’t been sleeping but Alfred didn’t comment on them or the smell as we walked to breakfast. “So you’re like British,” 

“Why yes and you’re American?” 

“I think, I don’t really know because I moved to Gotham when I was two and never knew where I lived before that. So how long have you been working here?” 

“I’ve been working for the Wayne family for I believe over seventy -five years now,”

“That’s really fucking long,” 

Indeed it is,” Alfred chuckled “Master Wayne’s father signed me on about seven years before Bruce was even born. Before I was a brigadier in the British military,” 

“How old are you now?”

Alfred gave me a small side smile and opened the door to the kitchen where breakfast was being served “Let’s just say I’m quite old,”

“How longs your contract?” There was no one at breakfast but I could hear movement in the living room that connected to the kitchen. The door was closed but I could hear hushed voices. 

“I feel as though you can keep a secret so can you keep mine?” I was great at keeping secrets. My brain had like a secret compartment or safe for everyone else’s secrets. Where it kept mine though even I didn’t know. My head nodded yes eagerly. What secret could an old butler have about his contract? Thousands of scenarios stampeded through my brain but none of them came close to the answer “My contract ended seventeen years ago” 

“But I still pay you,” Bruce questioned coming in from the living room followed closely behind by Dick, Tim, Damian, Danial, and a new girl who I could only assume was Stephanie. She had blond hair styled in lopsided pigtails and an apron full of makeup brushes. Her eyeshadow was bright purple and if the wings on her eyeliner started flapping she’d probably fly better than Superman. In her mouth was a lollipop “Alfred, have you been using me to commit tax-evasion? 

“No sir, only a mere joke,” Alfred said while simultaneously he winked at me as he pulled the lollipop straight out of Stephanie’s mouth and wrapped it in saran wrap. “Breakfast is on the table,” 

“Yum Alfie! This looks absolutely delicious!” Stephanie squealed. It was like every single sentence she said ended in an exclamation mark. Her tongue was bright blue fro the lollipop. I remembered how whenever my friend, Triton, used to stand outside of Seven-Eleven and scream to whoever had a blue slushy and tongue about how they ate the smurf village. I issued Triton but he always turned up when I needed him most, usually needing my help even more, and something told me I was going to see him again soon “Ooooooh! You must be Rachael. Hi, I’m Stephanie. It's so awesome that I finally get to meet you.” 

“Finally get to meet me?” 

“Oh, well I just meant,” She struggled for a minute before changing the topic. “So I’ve got the perfect nail polish for you! Cherry red seems to totally be your colour. By the way, love that jacket, it sort of reminds me of Ja-,” 

Damian elbowed her so hard in the ribs that she stepped back a bit winded and Tim gave him a warning glare. My gut told me she was going to say Jason but I don’t know why. One of the rumours in Crime Alley was that he was last seen in Crime Alley wearing a red hoodie stealing Batman’s tires before he was swept up to here to do God knows what. I’d only been in the Manor for two days and had figured out the Wayne family had deceived the whole media with a fake presentation of an act so why did Bruce need Jason. He clearly didn’t need a son so why get a random troublesome teen kid from Batman anyways? 

“Stephanies been learning to cut hair and I was wondering if she could,” Tim started but the Damian finished.

“If she could practice on you so she can fuck up her hair and not yours,”

“Not at all!” Stephanie objected “I’m great at cutting hair and I cut my friend’s hair all the time for free at the art gallery I work at but my cosmetology school makes us practice on nursing home patients and non-violent Arkham patients. Its kind of gross because their hair is kind of gross because their heads are all flakey with dead skin and they’re hair is either so stiff with grim or oily,”

“Well, I don’t know if my hairs any better,” 

Her face lit up as if I’d just told her I’d solved world hunger because I hadn’t as my stomach growled for food. “Omg, so you’ll let me cut your hair?” 

I caught a glance at my reflection in a piece of silver displayed on the wall. My boring black hair was long and super tangled. It wasn’t pretty and smooth like a princess but instead looked like I’d tried to grow myself dreadlocks and failed. It made me wonder how many people walked by and thought to themselves “who that’s cultural appropriation” or “maybe that’s why companies don’t allow dreadlocks cause some poser will do that”. It was what I was thinking but then I remembered that I don’t get noticed. That’s what made me good at my job or jobs because I was a ghost on the streets. Another faceless kid no one remembered so I didn’t get why I answered the way I did “yeah sure let’s do it,” 

Breakfast was shorter than yesterdays because Stephanie devoured a whole bunch of food before tell me she was going to go set up outside. I hadn’t even eaten a whole roll of sausage before she excitedly burst in to tell me she was ready. After that, I just handed my mostly uneaten late to Alfred and Danial followed me outside. Stephanie was set up by the house’s outdoor cover kitchen complete with a large firepit by the hot tub and pool. 

“You know Stephanie did my hair! Don’t tell my dad though since he doesn’t know,” 

“Oh, so this is going to be that bad, huh?” 

She’d dragged out several chairs and had set out tons of creams and nail polishes as well as different pairs of salon scissors. There was both a flat iron and a curling iron plugged into the wall dangerously closed to the sink. Tim seemed to just materialize next to us out of nowhere while Danial muttered something under his breath about ‘people needed to stop doing that in this household’. He took a long sip of his black coffee as he silently surveyed the damage. I went silent again since I was still mad about yesterday with both the school and Teen Titian news. 

“Okay, I’m thinking we start with a face mask while I soak your feet and I can do your nails at the same time. Danial, I’ll do yours if you want. Tim get out,”

“Why does Danial get to stay and I don’t!” 

“Because Danial is cool and you’re boring. Also, I want to actually get to know Rachael and I can’t with you around,”

“Here we go again,” Tim muttered tiredly under his breath “I’ll be in the Cave if you need me,” 

“Cave?” I asked “What Cave?’

Stephanie looked worried while Danial pulled up a chair next to me “He means the Man Cave,” He rolled his eyes and both Stephanie and I laughed “Now about the nails I’m thinking cookie monster. Can you do that?” 

“I’ll give it my best shot!” Stephanie answered while filling up two big buckets of water and mixing it with stuff before dunking our feet in. It was warm and sort of made me get the urge to pee but Stephanie was already washing down my face to prepare it for a face mask. She didn’t comment on how I smelled or that I hadn’t showered but I was self-conscious about the amount of dirt that came off my face when she washed it. Self-conscious was a new feeling I felt like I’d gained when I walked through the giant wooden doors of Wayne Manor but Stephanie, Damian, and Alfred made me feel comfortable. She began painting on a green face mask “This will help open and shrink your pores, trust me. Before I used this you could literally mistake my pores as freckles but now it looks like those rolls you get at a steak house! Just sit back and relax, I’ve got this,”

“Oh I feel like I’m in good hands,” Danial replied sarcastically before she went to work. 

First Stephanie did our nails. She worked hard to create tiny little Cookie Monsters on Danial’s nails but only the thumb came out well. The rest look like Danial’s sleep paralysis demon according to Danial. Still, he thought they were cool and posted a picture of both him and my nails on his Instagram story. My nails were a light red colour and Stephanie had painted a white lotus on the bottom of my thumb. They were just so pretty and magical that I had to just think back and remember when I’d last time I had my nails painted. It must have been with Aubrey. Thinking of her made me sort of sad though since I hadn’t been able to find her since I’d gotten back to Gotham no matter how hard I stalk all her old hangouts and the street she used to live at and work. Then Stephanie pulled up her Pinterest so I could scroll through pictures of how I could cut my hair or if I just wanted to trim it. 

“This seems cool,” I showed her a picture of a girl with jet black hair like me but it was short and her bangs framed her face. I’d always been sort of self-conscious of my forehead and kept my hair in my face a lot but did also like to keep my hair short so it was a good compromise. Lola and I used to cut each other’s hair with a pair of kitchen scissors we got from Goodwill because we never had the money for a salon or if we did they were obligated to report us to CPS. Stephanie immediately started measuring where she could cut and kept squealing about how pretty and perfect it was going to look while Danial looked through her various hair dyes. 

“Hey Rachael, what’s your favourite colour?” 

“Um... I don’t know. Why?” 

“Everyone has a favourite colour,” He rolled his eyes and went back to his search “And I’m sort of done with the bleach blonde look but there are so many options so pick a favourite colour or any colour,” 

It took me a second to think of what could be my favourite colour because my mind had been having trouble remembering thing like that recently. I only said red because it was the colour of my hoodie but it still bugged me that I couldn’t think of what my favourite colour was. It wasn’t just a favourite colour though but it was also favourite candy bars, foods, music and a bunch of other stuff. Except I was slowly getting the memory back which bugged me even more. Like who was the woman from the little flash of a distant memory that had happened yesterday morning and why were they coming back now rather than before? Would I ever remember what happened in the two years before the two years I spent chasing down answers and power? I was so distance in thought I didn’t come out of my head until Stephanie made the snip in my hair. 

“Red it is!” Danial said grabbing a bottle. He checked his phone and rolled his eyes “Wow a lot of people are saying they like it but a lot of people are saying it’s super gay. God,” 

“What’s wrong with that?” 

“Oh hey, guys I’ll be right back. I need to get more water.” Stephanie said bouncing off as Danial studied her every movement like a wolf watching a sheep. The second she got into the house he turned to me real serious.

“Can you keep a secret?” That was the second time today someone had asked me that but something told me this was going to be a lot heavier than tax fraud “What are your opinion on...gay people,”

“They are fine. I mean I hate to say it but most of Gotham’s great villains are gay. Well mostly bisexual. I believe the Penguins gay but Riddler, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman are bi. At least that’s what I heard. Rumour has it Riddler and Penguin have this little sort of “I hate you I love you” relationship going on,” That only made Danial look more anxious and terrible “I mean I’m not saying all homosexual people are evil, of course! I mean I have gay friends… who aren’t evil and I,” 

“How’d they tell their parents?”

“What?”

He took a deep breath “How di your friends tell their parents?”

“Well,” I thought back and the answer was kind of messed up but I figured he needed to hear it “A lot of them didn’t come from good families that would understand or they don’t have parents to tell. But a lot of them have found that the worlds a much better place now that they have admitted to themselves who they are and found people that love them for it. Take my friend Lola, she likes girls and was born in the wrong body, and now she works for Penguin. I mean their not exactly correlated but shes a lot happier doing that than living in the closet with her closeted stupid parents still being called Lucas. Her parents didn’t accept her but her boss and coworkers do though I have no idea how she got to the position she did or even how she started working for Penguin. The point is she is happy,’ 

“I don’t actually know if I’m gay,” He looked sadly down at his nails. “The media pretends to be more accepting but it’s not it just tries to bury the mean comments but fails to do so. That’s the real truth about Gotham Academy. I’ve never actually kissed a guy or even really talked about it out loud. The only reason I’m talking to you is that most of my so-called friends from school started to abandon me already and no offence but if you say you don’t like the gays or I’m going to hell it won’t hurt as much as if my dad or someone like Tim says it,”

“I get that,” I thought long and hard about what I was going to say “What if you had a chance to kiss a guy or at least be in a place where you’re accepted?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Can you just trust me?” He nodded and I gave him a reassuring smile while planning to kill two birds with one stone. To make sure he’s accepted and to get a nice warm shower and maybe something heavy to drink “Good, we’re skipping school tomorrow,”

“To go where?” 

“Trust me,” 

He breathed out heavily and I could tell he was weighing the risks in his head. After a quick side-eye that looked like he was figuring out whether or not he could take me down and how he finally gave up “Fine, but I’m driving,” 

“What are you guys talking about?” Stephanie said coming back with a thing of water to wet down my hair to cut it. “Danial, did you decide on a colour?”

“Yeah, red,” he said looking over at me kind of nervous before relaxing quite quickly to think up a lie. I’d seen tons of kids do this that were excellent liars and that is how you knew if they had strict parents or not. “We were just talking about school. Don’t make my hair look like I’m ginger but like bright punk rocky red, you know? Just don’t make it look like Roy Harper’s.”

“Wait was that one of the guys who was here yesterday?”

“Yeah,” Stephanie chimed in as she began wetting down and cutting my hair. It was like she was so focused she couldn’t even hear our conversation after she started. I held my breath a little when she got a little too close to my ear.

“Yeah, he’s a friend, or well I think ex-friend, of my dads,”

“Oh, that sucks,” 

“I don’t know why he’s here though,” he looked over at me for just a second though “But I’ve got some ideas though I know he hates my dad,”

“Why would he hate your dad? He seems nice as far as I can tell,” 

Danial took a big breath in a nervously tapped his fingers “Roy’s father or adoptive father wasn’t always the best to him and that led him into a lot of bad habits. He was a bit of a druggie as my dad used to call him,” 

“Yeah, I could tell by his arms. A lot of people have them. Its a permanent branding but not a label to be called on,” I sighed looking down at my arms. None of my old track marks were there anymore but the memories were. Those out of all the memories I wanted to forget about the last two years were the ones I wanted to have forgotten. 

“Well, now my dad didn’t believe in that or Roy at the time especially when he came to stay with us after his daughter had been taken by the state. He’s got her back now but he was just awful when he lost her. An emotional mess when he showed up at our old doorstep in Bloodhaven. My dad let him stay for a couple of days but they got into this big argument about something and my dad accused him of using in his household. Roy swore he was sober and had been for about three weeks but my dad didn’t believe him, though he was taking pain killers and prescription medicines again. He walked out of the house without anything and the next thing we saw was that he was on death row in some foreign country. How he is here I have no idea.” 

“Was he like you know, using I mean,” 

Danial looked sadly back at me and shook his head no “My dad was so paranoid that he went through Roy’s bag after he stormed out. All he found were breath mints,”

“That’s fucking awful!” 

“I know. I sort of haven’t forgiven my dad for it even though it didn’t happen to me you know?” I wanted to ask him more about Roy and everything but also tell him I understood what he meant but Stephanie interrupted us. 

“Omg! Your hairs is done. So what do you think?” She asked as she handed me a mirror 

My hair was short like it had been many times in the past but it was soft and sort of bouncy. It was like my hair had taken on a whole new life of its own. The bangs framed my face almost perfectly it was like I was staring into a picture frame if my chin was the bottom piece. I felt beautiful for a second before the dread and guilt kicked in from last night and I realised I still smelled like a dying boar. But the smell would be showered away tomorrow and I’d have to live for the foreseeable future with that guilt. Unless I could take it away for just a bit. The conversation about Roy gave me some ideas about tomorrow though for right then I was just going to enjoy my new hair for it look so different. I looked so different. ‘The thing was my life needed a new change and maybe this was it’ I thought to myself “ I can barely recognize my face but again why would I want to anyway? The only thing looking back is a monster.’ 

“Well now Danial lets see about that red, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's totally late but I have a great excuse! My birthdays is this Saturday which totally doesn't matter because my sweet sixteen is in July. July 18th to be exact. A whole bunch of stuff goes into party planning and especially since my best friend and I are going to the beach a couple of days beforehand. I love planning parties and I have so many cute ideas and stuff! I think I mentioned this as well in the last chapters note but if you can't tell I'm so excited. Writing has literally been the only way I've been passing time faster. Which this chapter was supposed to have a whole other part about attending school or lack of attendance but it will just be the entire next chapter! 
> 
> What do you think about this chapter anyway? I'm straight and never have had to really come out to my parents but I have friends, many close friends, that had to and they said it was the hardest thing they ever did even though they knew their parent would be understanding. Comment if you think I should change any of this or if I'm like totally wrong about everything but also let me know if you liked the chapter as well.


	11. Hot Chocolate Instead Of Black Coffee

Danial’s POV: 

“Hey buddy, are you awake?” A hand shook me softly as I tried to snuggle deeper into my softer comforter. Then the shaking grew more intense “Daniel, you gotta get up. We’re having a family meeting,” 

I rolled over trying to find the edge of the bed to see what time it was but I just found a sea of covers. Back home I had a queen mattress and didn’t think there was much of a difference between it and a king-size until I stayed at Wayne Manor for more than three days. Who needed that much bed for just one person? In my opinion, the mattress seemed even too big for two people. The people that made king mattresses a popularize item must have been real freaks. Finally, after becoming Moses, I was able to see the time “What the hell, Dad? It’s fucking four in the morning,”

“Language!” my dad snapped and my eyes finally adjusted so that I could see that he was in his Nightwing costume. They must have just gotten back which meant he was supposed to be sleeping now, “The rest of the family is waiting downstairs. Come on,” 

Then my dad said “Steamroller” in a regular voice and jumped on the bed only to begin rolling and crushing me. “Okay. Okay. Damn, I’m getting up,” 

“Language!” My dad repeated a little more aggressively but I ignored him. The floor felt like I was walking through the tundra as I miserably stomped down to Bruce’s study. On the way through I went by Rachael’s door and could see the shadow of a chair pushed up against it. Something about the thought of her and what I’d told her yesterday made me feel incredibly guilty for walking next to my dad knowing how much I’ve kept from him so I sped up. 

From down the hall, I heard hushed voices who instantly silenced as they heard me approaching. Something about the entire situation was making my anxiety skyrocket through the goddamn roof. All I’d been able to think about is how bad I felt for both Jason and Rachael. Rachael because she felt trapped in this labyrinth of a house and Jason because he knew of his daughter but would never be able to get close enough to her to know her. All because of Bruce. 

Bruce was a good guy at heart but he wasn’t so wise and mighty as he led everyone to believe. He blamed his lack of parenting and screwed rules due to his lack of parents but most people in Gotham grew up the same way. Well, same as in there was no mansion, Alfred, or funds necessary for the basics much less the exquisite taste he’d grown to acquire. Most kids lost at least one but usually both parents before the age of twelve either due to a mugging gone wrong, villain attack planned hit, etc. Despite what the rest of the world thinks not everyone in Gotham grew up evil despite these odds. Some good people try to help the city without resorting to crime or a costume hero act which Wayne Industries tries to help and give back to but Tim owns the company now. Bruce is just caught up in his trauma to see how it’s affecting others which would be fine if he didn’t refuse therapy like my dad had kept suggesting since he was like twelve. 

“My dad went to therapy when I was born,” I pondered over that thought as I walked into the study “To try and figure out a way to leave this all behind but Bruce just pulled him back into his crusade. Pulled them all in,” Damian and Tim stood on opposite sides of the room mouthing their thoughts to one another while Jason and Roy stood in the back a little distance from each other. They both looked terrible but Jason more than ever with even baggier eyes and what looked like a broken nose. I’d only just seen him yesterday and his nose hadn’t been broken and he wore a helmet while in the field so I couldn’t imagine where it could have happened. Bruce sat at his desk watching as we shuffled in. 

“Daniel,” he said, gesturing to come closer and all I could think of was that he looked like he should be in black and white. A black and white playing the main villain to be exact. He had the bone structure and the soul-crushing stare to nail him any part all he needed were some armadillos “We have to talk about today,”

“M’kay,” I yawned looking down at my watch “It’s 4 in the morning as far as I’m concerned “today” starts in another three or four hours,” 

Both Tim and Damian rolled their eyes while Jason was able to stifle his laughter but Roy wasn’t as successful earning him another death stare from Bruce. “Just want to warn you that for some unknown reason Rachael still is being followed by the Court of Owl’s so-called Talons,” 

“The reason isn’t fucking unknown!” Jason muttered under his breath but grew louder as everyone turned to look at him “Well it’s not! You know it’s a risk putting her in a school full of kids but you are going to do it anyway be you are Bruce fucking Wayne,” 

“Jason, the Court will not attack Rachael while she is at Gotham Academy because most of their children and Gotham's most powerful children attend there as well. They wouldn’t dare attack it,”

“But the fucking League will!” 

“That’s enough,” Bruce said slamming his fist down and standing up. Everyone but Jason flinched and stepped back a bit but I guess once you have faced Lady Death there is nothing else left to scare you. Not even Batman himself “You are here as a courtesy and that’s it. After what you did you don’t even deserve to be where you are standing much less anywhere near this family.”

“Bruce,” Tim said softly trying to disarm the situation but Jason was off. His eyes glowed green and his breathing became heavier. The look in his eye became thirty times more dangerous than it already had been. Roy tried putting his hand on his shoulder but Jason walked right past and up to Bruce.

“So you think I should be dead, motherfucker?” He said getting real close to the point that he was breathing on Bruce as the rest of us held our breaths. Bruce had looked guilty before the comment had left his mouth but now he looked even more upset and became softly trying to apologise and coaks Jason into being calm. Probably because he was seeing the effects of the Pit. Tim was also trying to calm Jason down but was simultaneously videotaping for his experiment and Damian looked like he didn’t care how Jason acted though he’d jump in to save his father at any given point. My father put a worried hand on my shoulder “Me too but who’s fucking fault is that! So hear me once old man, because I’m not here out of any courtesy bullshit but for my god damn daughter. Before you spin any of your fucking bullshit weren’t you in the same predicament like six or seven years ago? Yeah, you were. So listen close or I’ll personally rain fucking hell down on not just Gotham but anything with you goddamned associated with. Not just Batman but Bruce Fucking Wayne. That’s over half the world plus all the caped bitches you try to send. Let’s see if I can kill a Kryptonian, been dying to try,” he let out a bark of a mad man’s laugh that was cut short by him grabbing Bruce’s collar, “If anything, and so help me god I mean anything, happens to that girl I won’t kill you but I’ll make you beg at my feet for death,” 

His grip kept growing tighter and tighter as Bruce’s face displayed only the littlest emotion of guilt until his knuckles turned white but then he did something no one expected. He laughed. My whole body was sort of paralysed in fear because it sounded like the laugh of a madman. Not just any mad man but one that wore the war paint of a clown. 

“I’ll stick to my word, old man. I’m only letting you handle the situation until I get back,”

“Wait, Jason,” Tim said instantly worried, “Where are you going? I thought tomorrow we were going to-,”

“Relax Replacement,” Jason said dragging Roy out by the arm, “I’ll be back in time for your stupid thing,” 

After Jason and Roy left, everyone else began filing out behind them. All I thought to myself was that I’d woken up for nothing but now I was wide awake there was no point in going back to bed. “Maybe I can sleep in history,” I thought before remembering that I wasn’t probably going to history but instead going somewhere unknown with Rachael. My hand brushed through my newly dyed red hair wondering if my dad would be hurt when he found out I wasn’t going to school but then something occurred to me: I wanted to hurt him. Hurt him for being an idiot and making mom cheat. For not figuring it out on his own and pulling me into it. For always making the wrong decisions! 

My mind started to race as I got angrier and angrier but as I turned to leave I heard BBruce sigh and sadly mutter under his breath “Where did I go wrong,” My heart sank for only a short second and then I remembered why he where he did go wrong. He went wrong by deeming Jason a madman without a second shot and turning not only the League but the world against him. As I thought of everything Tim and my dad had told me I concluded that maybe he could help me figure out things with my identity and maybe with my dad but I had to catch up with him first. 

“Jason!” I yelled running down the hallway towards the front door hoping he hadn’t left yet “Wait, Uncle Jay! Jason!” As I ran out the door I tripped on the frame and fell down the brick stairs landing between my dad and Jason’s feet. My arm was bleeding but I hardly felt it, “Oh hey Jason! Can I um… talk to you?”

Jason looked like he was about to say something when my dad cut in “About?” I instantly scowled and was about to argue with him when Jason spoke up. 

“About pre-game breakfast! Want to get coffee kid before Alfred even starts cooking. You look like you need it,” he playfully punched my arm and rustled my hair while my dad looked suspicious “Come on Dickie, let the kid talk to me! I don’t bite,”

“I specifically remember that you do,” Jason rolled his eyes and my dad became pushing up his sleeve “I still have a scar! You barely knew me when you bit me how can I trust you with my kid?”

“How can I trust you with mine!” 

“Okay Daniel, go at least change,” I smiled in victory as I quickly ran upstairs to throw on the most basic outfit I could think of. A blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans but then I remembered that Jason’s favourite colour so I switched my shirt. My thought process was that I’d at least have to come back to the Manor to pick up Rachael and she’d tell me if I needed to change, hopefully. When I went outside Jason and my dad were still arguing. “Make sure he is back by six before Alfred even puts a napkin down on the table and make sure he wears a helmet,”

“I don’t need a,” I didn’t even finish the thought before he gave me the famous “Nightwing scowl”. Batman tended to scowl all the time but Nightwing scowled at you, you knew you were in trouble. The only problem was that I got it on a weekly bases and it didn’t faze me anymore. 

“Come on, kid, we’re getting coffee,” he turned to Roy who was violently texting someone “You okay to Uber home?” 

“Um..yeah,” Roy said awkwardly trying to shove his phone back into his pocket but missed the first couple of times “Actually Tim do you have one of those Justice League transporters? I only need to pop back to Bludhaven for an hour or two and I don’t feel like taking the bus,” 

“Yeah there is on at the new Wayne Industries building and I’m heading over there,” Tim said spinning his keys around his finger and pulling Roy towards the garage “Actually I need your help looking over some blueprints so let me get the limo,”

“Um sure,” he gave Jason a regretful and anxious glance while Jason pretended to hang himself with an invisible noose. We both laughed as my dad put Roys helmet o my head and began fiddling with the adjuster. I shooed him away and sat behind Jason on his motorcycle. 

“You ready to go, kiddo?”

“Jason, just… don’t kill my kid,”

“Don’t get my daughter killed,”

With that, we were off. Jason sped out of the driveway going seventy as I gripped onto him for dear life. My only thought was that if I died or got hurt I could already hear what the kids at school would say. They already had enough to laugh at but falling off a motorcycle in my granddad’s driveway would put it over the edge. Most of their insults were aimed at the fact that my dad, a circus freak lucky to be taken in by Bruce, had turned down fame and fortune just to not go to college and become a police officer. It was pretty dumb when I thought about it because even though he was trying to help people he was still on the force with dirty cops, therefore, condoning their behaviour. Kids at school didn’t see my moral argument but they did see that he forfeited his job to Tim Drake along with all the money which deemed me “poor”. Always found it funny that despite being the grandson of the richest man in Gotham, and probably one of the richest in America, I was still deemed poor by my peers. 

“Where are we going? It’s 4 am so there is no way anywhere is open,” I shouted over the wind and Jason laughed. 

“This is Gotham! You can always find at least somewhere that is open,” 

After a while, he pulled into a tiny diner called The Boheme Diner that could only be described as homely. It had an old 1950’s theme going on with black and white checkered floors with bright red leather booths. It was warm and there was classic 1920’s pre-Great Depression vibe music in the background from a 1980’s boombox system though the waitress dressed like she was in the nineties. No theme or time could describe the aesthetic of the place. There was a black counter with spinny bar stools that complimented the old black and white pictures on the wall. Some were of famous people that had eaten at the restaurant while others were old photoshoot pics of well-known dead celebrities. At one end of the cafe was a soft drink tap next to an icy machine. There must have been about thirty different flavours and a million different combinations! Jason saw me gaping at the slushie machine and whispered “They don’t start mixing them until seven. It’s the same with the handspun milkshakes,” killing all my dreams as we sat in a booth right under a large picture of Marilyn Monroe standing on a grate. Besides us, there was only a pair of old guys playing chess in the corner with a chess set I assumed one of them had brought from home and a waitress that was looked like Winona Rider. 

“Hey, Marty,” Jason said getting the waitresses attention “Can I get two hot chocolates? Wait do you want a hot chocolate? What do you usually get?” 

“I’ve never been here,” I said and he just nodded at the waitress to get the drinks. He was a regular here. “It’s cool though! I’ll have to see if my dad would want to come back sometime. He’d find it cool! Especially since it’s so close to the Manor,”

“I’m surprised your dad hasn’t taken you here before,” Jason said lighting up a cigarette “When he was like twenty-one or something he could suck down on the Boheme’s famous chocolate shakes in under a minute and a half without getting a brain freeze. Would say it was the greatest skill he had and then would proceed to do a back handspring after he finished,” 

“So you guys used to come here as kids?”

“Yeah, well sort of. Not together if that’s what you mean. I didn’t meet Dick until I was like ten or eleven and he was in his twenties but we both frequented here before we like formally met, you know?” I nodded and he continued “I know from what Bruce has told me that he used to come here after school and one time he brought me here after he dragged me out of a bar after a fight when I was sixteen. Not my proudest moment if you know what I’m saying. Anyway, I mostly know this place from going here with my mom and when I used to sneak out of the Manor,”

“You used to sneak out of the Manor?”

“Yeah, clearly Rachael knows how and you,” he looked up and raised an amused eyebrow as my face flushed red “So what do you want to talk to me about. If it’s about a fake id or anything stronger than cannabis I’m staying out of it,” 

“Wait for what? No...no...no,” I said waving my hands violently as Marty came over with the two hot cocos in bright pink mugs with little record patterns on them. On top of each drink was a mountain of whipped cream accompanied by chocolate sprinkles, rainbow marshmallows, and a cinnamon stick. Jason flashed her one of what my dad would call “a million-dollar smile” and she blushed even harder than I was as she shuffled back to the register. “I wanted to ask you about... when you were a kid? Well not really more about…” 

“You mean how your dad used to try and torture me as a kid even though he was a grown adult? Or about how Bruce trained me to be a freaking walking target for the baddies? That plan worked a little too well,” he started laughing, not like he had when he was yelling at Bruce but normal, as I sat there awkwardly staring at him. I’d never really thought of Jason’s life other than he was supposed to be the cool rebellious Robin that stole Batman’s tires. I’d just assumed that his life had become better after Bruce had picked him up. No matter how wrong I thought Bruce was a lot of the time I just figured Jason life had become a million times better with Batman. “I’m kidding little wing. Is it about Robin? Is Bruce trying to get you to be Robin because if he is I su-,’

“It’s not!” I said louder than I should of and even though there were only three other people in the diner I felt like it got quieter so I so started to whisper “It’s not. It’s about... I don’t know… How’d you realise you were… I don’t know what I’m doing I’m sorry..,” 

“You know what’s funny? Everyone thinks I like black coffee and that it’s all I drink. Last time I had to team up with the Titans, Beast Boy brought me a black coffee without thinking about it. At least I think it was Beast Boy, he was green and turned into a guerilla so I’m pretty sure but you never know with the crazy world of the Justice Leauge bull. Anyway, everyone thinks I like black coffee because of my demeanour or something but that more Tim Drake’s thing. I love sugar and always have, especially hot from The Boheme. Funny enough when I first got to Gotham the first thing I did was come here and get myself not just one but three mugs. Even amongst the pits influence and how clouded my head was I still knew I wanted some damn hot chocolate. So what is it you want despite your head being clouded?”

“I...I...How’d you know you were… bisexual?” I spit out quietly before taking a giant sip of my drink. It was one of the greatest things I’d ever tasted as it warmed my entire body despite being in a heated diner.

“Try drinking it through the cinnamon stick. They have special ones that are like straws,” He said taking a big sip out his drink before getting another wicked grin and used his straw to suck up a marshmallow at the end of it only to shoot it back in my face. I laughed as I dodged the projectile while shot another. “Now about the “bisexual” thing? There was a difference between knowing and accepting. Or at least that’s how it was for me but hey everyone has a different experience. I don’t know if that helps you or like answers your question but if its any consolation I’m still trying to figure shit out for myself,”

“It does,” I said feeling this newfound confidence in my chest. Everyone was struggling even Jason. Jason had been like the coolest dude ever to me since I had briefly met him when I was eight when my dad took me to visit Uncle Tim and he was there. The first thing he did was make a joke about my Batgirl shirt that my mom had forced me to wear and then put up with me ranting about my mom picking out my clothes while my dad argued with Tim why he was there. My dad never really brought up Jason but whenever he did he spoke in the past tense even though Tim and even Bruce were constantly dumping cases on him that they didn’t want to deal with. He was never invited to family dinner and there weren’t any photos of him on the wall so I did some digging into his past. The more and more that I found the more and more I found fascinated I became with him and now we were having like our first like real talk he was nothing like I thought he’d be which made me like him more. Him admitting he struggled made me feel less alone with my feelings. “So tell me about your problems?”

“What?”

“You said you’re still trying to figure shit out and my mom has made me watch enough of those soapy dramas as a kid that I notice that you and Roy got like something going on,”

“It’s none of your business, kid,”

“Neither is telling y dad that you got me a big sugary hot chocolate at four in the morning that could ruin my appetite for breakfast and make me hyper throughout the day,”

“Ah, you little bastard,” he said grinning that fell into a sort of sad smirk “Fine but I want information on Rachael,”

“What kind of information?”

“Everything”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo it has been a while. I'm sorry for the monthly updates I know its annoying. Now that my life is sort of back on track it won't be monthly updates but more frequent updates though! I know I say this a lot but this time I mean it because I've started writing the next chapter already. This was supposed to be part of a bigger chapter but it was already so long and I think I should do the next chapter in another or mixed point of view. Next chapter is going to be long as hell though, so be warned. 
> 
> Thank you all for the birthday wishes though! Love you all and I had the most magical sweet sixteen ever (socially distanced, of course). It's funny because all the photos I have we are in masks and flower crown which sort of makes it look like everyone was in an epic girl gang that fought like crime or something. I don't know it just looks cool if you know what I mean! 
> 
> If you actually read this then you are one of the real ones. MagicWhiskers13 deserves an award for being the kindest and coolest reader! Thank you for all the nice comments and kudos


	12. Business and Leisure

Kate’s POV:

As nice of a room the Wayne’s provided I still slept under the bed. Under the bed pushed to the very back to be more precise because I didn’t trust them. Well, I didn’t trust them besides Alfred and maybe Daniel. Afterall he did confess to me that he was struggling with his sexual identity.

Even though I’d struggled a lot in my life but never with my sexual orientation, I wanted to do anything I could for him. I’d struggled a lot with my identity over the last two years and knew that not knowing who you were wasn’t a fun experience. He couldn’t help me find my lost time and slowly return memories but he did make me feel safer. I owed it to him to return the favor and it didn’t hurt that I benefited from it. 

I’d started to reek anyway. All I’d wanted to do when I’d gotten home from the docks was take a shower. Or at least stand under the hot water to try and process what I’d done. Instead, I was still wearing bloody clothes stained by an unknown victim three days afterward. The guilt was already driving me mad but if I didn’t change I’d go batshit insane. 

“You sound just like a future Titan, you know,” I scowled to myself. I couldn’t tell which smelled the worst; the sarcasm, irony, or me. A knock on the door brought me back to reality. 

“Miss Rachael,” Alfred said through the door. I’d given up correcting him about the “Miss” thing at that point. The chair I’d pushed against the door had become stuck when I first tried to unlock it so I had to jiggle it lose, probably making it seem like I was stealing or something to the old British butler but he didn’t say anything. Finally, the door opened to him looking sort of nervous holding some folded clothes with a pair of brown flats on top. Slung over his shoulder was a cherry red messenger bag that still had the tag on it. “Sorry if I awoke you,” 

“Nah, I was already awake,” I hadn’t gotten a full night’s sleep since the night at the docks.

“Well breakfast, as well as the rest of the family, are waiting downstairs,” he said kindly but the words “rest of” were cemented in my mind “Miss Stephanie left these for your first-day and asked me to tell you she hopes you have an excellent day today,” 

“Uh, tell her I said thank you, would you?” I asked as I began to shove the clothes into the bag. Inside the bag though was a yellow envelope along with some glittery lip gloss, a tube of “volumizing” mascara, and some red nail polish. She’d also included some sparkly pens and a binder covered in red roses stickers full of paper. I had to smile as I opened her note. 

Hey Rachael, 

I hope you have a fantastic first day! I didn’t know your favorite colors and Tim didn’t know either so I just assumed red like your hoodie. If it’s not, I’m so sorry and would be happy to get you another bag soon but remember for now that you look sickening in red! Also included some glitter pens (oooh and a big fluffy pink one so you can have a tots Clueless moment!!!) some papers for boring school work (:( ) as well as a book to read when you’re bored. I haven’t read it personally but according to Tim’s friend its good! As for the outfit, they’ll fit you for uniform sizes but for your first couple of days, you can wear normal clothes. “Casual” as they call it. Hope these fit (I guess-estimated your size). Have an awesome day! 

Lots of love,  
Steph 

P.S the money is for the vending machine. Honeybuns are to die for!!!

She’d drawn lots of hearts and cartoons on the border of the card and had included about ten bucks in one-dollar bills. My face couldn’t help but break out into a big grin as I re-read her note. It was written in sparkly purple ink. Alfred smiled slightly at my enjoyment like he was trying and failing to hide his emotions which for some reason triggered my paranoia. It made me wonder how many other children got “special” bags. Was it a lot or just me? 

“You can tell her yourself at dinner,” he said as I began moving the book to make room to shove the clothes in “Ah, American Gods!” 

“You’ve read it?” 

“Yes, many times. It-it was young Master Jason’s favorite,” he looked off into the distance as if he was recalling an old memory, “Actually Neil Gaiman was his favorite author. You know his goal was to read the whole Wayne library before he… before he…,” 

He looked incredibly sad all of the sudden and I knew he was going to say died. I wanted to pressure him to get more answers but decided against it for the man looked like he was on the verge of tears, “I used to read the Sandman comics he wrote when they were at the public library though I only read about up to comic two. From what I could tell they were super cool! Even had an appearance from the menacing Bat himself,”

“Well then I feel like the Wayne library’s graphic novel and comic book collection could use a bit of upgrading, don’t you think?” He winked. His kind but the sly signature smile seemed to return but sadness still lingered in his eyes. “Should we make our way down to breakfast then?” 

I nodded and he leads the way down to the kitchen even though I’d figured out where the necessary rooms were by then. Everyone but Tim and the two guys, the black and red-haired ones, who had been around the Manor a lot was sitting around a table covered in eggs and vegan sausage. Damian and Daniel were having a fencing match with butter knives while Bruce read the paper, 

“You can’t defeat me! I was trained by the Demon’s Head,” Damian yelled as he pretended to stab Daniel in the chest while they both laughed. I had a flashback to the night at the docks but also to a woman dressed in what looked like armor saying “The Demon’s Head”. Even though it was for only a moment, my body launched into a coughing fit. I covered my mouth with my elbow as everyone looked up. Damian’s face morphed into an annoyed expression as he settled back into his chair while Daniel looked hopeful like he expected something to happen back and forth between us. As the coughing stopped I lowered my arm feeling as though there was something on it. My arm was covered in blood but that also had bits of what looked like dirt mixed in. Though my mind was freaking out, I quietly wiped it off with a napkin and shoved it into my jacket pocket along with the antique letter opener. 

“Are you alright?” Bruce Wayne inquired but I just sat down. I’d yet to say a word to him, sticking to my vow of silence despite the annoyance. How monks did it for there lifetimes amazed me. Didn’t their vocal cords begin every become sore or like how do they communicate like the basics? I mean maybe sign language was an option but I had no way of figuring out how to say “what the fuck do you want” in sign language or if Bruce would understand it. Though I could flip him the bird whenever I wanted to but decided to give it a day or two. Something about him made me want to insult him but also like I didn’t want to piss him off because he could snap at any moment. What could an old millionaire that has had a butler do his laundry his entire life possible do though? 

“Well, are you excited for school, Rachael?” Dick asked as I put a bit of egg on my plate. They were sort of watery but they were pretty good. You could tell Alfred knew what he was doing because they tasted like they were from a fancy restaurant. Lola had once told me that the Penguin used to have his eggs prepared with a bit of sour cream and milk, maybe that’s how Wayne's butler did it as well. Trading with recipes with the heads of the table wouldn’t surprise me though. Rich guys were always as shady as hell. “Oooh, I want to get a picture of you before your first day. Think I left my phone in the study. Be right back don’t take off kiddos,” 

“Kiddos,” Daniel repeated sarcastically under his breath and Damian laughed. Dick came back into the room looking slightly angry holding his phone as well as some files. Bruce seemed to almost growl as Damian’s phone went off. 

“Oh, got to go it’s Jon. He’s outside,” Damian said while taking off. 

“Tell him to wait then! I just want one picture of the three of you,” 

“No, Richard. Jon flew here from Metropolis and she smells,” Damian huffed as he began stalking towards the front door. 

“Hey that's not..,” Daniel started but I cut him off.

“Yay because you all are shady as hell. Cheese fuckheads,” Dick Graysons seemed stunned by the sudden abruptness of my statement that his finger slipped and hit the camera button. I flashed a cheesy smile with the flash but immediately went back into a scowl, pushing past both Daniel and Damien. 

Outside sitting on the porch was another black-haired kid spitting on the steps with a red snapback on and a black concert tee. He was sitting with his headphones on facing away from me. There wasn’t any new car in the driveway so I didn’t know how he'd gotten to the Manor but maybe he walked since his shoes were muddy as hell. “Oh hey Damian, can you tell Alfred sorry for the flower bed... Oh,” 

“Yeah, not Damian,”

“Oh sorry, I was waiting for Damian,” he looked younger than Damian and had insanely blue eyes. They seemed almost too blue to be normal. There was no way this kid had driven here. He scrunched up his nose awkwardly “I’m Jon by the way. Jon Kent,”

“And I smell, I know,” I said sarcastically as Damian and Daniel came out. 

“Oh that isn’t what I meant or like was implying,” his eyes opened super wide and he started quickly while Damian rolled his eyes.

“Jon meet Rachael, the latest street rat my father decided to take in,” 

“More like abduct,”

He turned around angrily “My father has taken you in and showed you nothing but kindness which you repay him in rudeness and hostility,” 

Daniel then decided to cut in “Not to be rude but didn’t you do the same when you came to live with Bruce,”

Jon let out a small chuckle while Damian got right up in Daniel’s face but he didn’t seem very intimidating since Danial was an inch taller “So you choose an outsider over the family. Pitiful. I thought maybe you’d have inherited some of Grayson’s qualities like loyalty,” then he pointed over to me “As for you, you’ll never be part of this family,”

“Okay, can I reiterate something to you?” I put my hands in a praying pose up to my face and breathed in very annoyed “ I, me as in the person standing here smelling bad, have a family and don’t need a foster one. Especially ones as creepy as you guys. Now I just want to get whatever this weird shit over with and also find a shower,”

With that, I started walking away going in no particular path and Daniel “Oh hey, my cars over here. Damian didn’t mean what he said he’s just paranoid and frankly very angst,”

“He’s right though. I don't belong here and am not going to be the next orphan billionaire Bruce Wayne adopts for a publicity stunt like Jennifer Lawrence,” 

“So, where are we going,” Daniel said, leading me to his car. It wasn't anything like I expected. His car was a beat-up red PT Cruiser that was ugly as hell. Instead of expensive glossy rims like I’d expected the windshield was covered in an alarming amount of stickers. Most from old punk bands. His leather seats were ripped and didn’t have heaters. Instead of a new car or at least a fresh smell he had a gingerbread air freshener from last Christmas despite Halloween being three weeks away. “Oh watch the handle on the passenger side! The metals got a crack in it so it cuts everyone.” 

“First to my actual house and then to the Pit,” 

“What's that?” 

“Oh, you’ll see,”

Tim Drake’s POV:

The ride over to Wayne Industries was silent and awkward, to say the least with Roy. Roy had only been Dick’s friend until he became Jasons as well as the former sidekick of the Green Arrow. Both had been before my time so I didn’t know him that well. We’d only been on less than a handful of missions together but none solo, meaning we’d never actually been alone together. I flipped on the radio to try to ease the silence. 

“Nice McLaren,” Roy said gesturing around at the car “ Though you’d think the CEO of Wayne Enterprises or is it Wayne Industries, either way, would drive something less conspicuous than bright yellow,”

“It’s both. Two different companies combined sort of deal,” My phone beeped and I checked it as we came to a stoplight “Steph tried to convince me to get the bright purple one and hasn’t stopped bringing it up for about two weeks now! Speak of the devil, Steph just texted me asking what’s a book you’d think Jason would like to recommend,” 

“Shit,” he tapped his fingers for a second but then snapped them back at me into corny finger guns “Um...American Gods. Or anything by Neil Gaiman cause he’s read everything by that fucker,” 

“Why?” 

“Oh, she’s getting Rachael some school supplies for today,” 

“Oh that’s nice,” he said but then grew silent for a while as he stared out the window, “You think Bruce is doing the right thing, with Rachael I mean?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed “but he thinks it is so he’ll go and do it without considering anyone else’s opinion as well as how it will affect Rachael,” 

“That’s fucked up, man,”

“Well if you consider Bruce’s childhood and what he had to go through he’s bound to have some faults when it comes to parenting,” 

Roy readjusted his trucker hat “There’s a saying that they have in rehab: It may explain it but it doesn’t excuse it,” 

“Try telling that to Batman,”

“I will if you tell it to “Green Arrow”,” he said with a laugh and a pair of sarcastic air quotations “Besides she’s not his kid to parent,” 

“But do you think Jason is ready to be a parent,”

“Tim,” he said deeply, looking over at me seriously, “No one's ready or prepared to be a parent. I sure as hell wasn't and not even sure if I am now,” 

“Roy you’re a great dad,”

“No you can’t tell yourself that because you always have to strive to be better and I hate to say it but Bruce isn’t a parent. He’s a guardian, there’s a difference,” 

“Bruce is a great parent!”

“He tries to be, I’ll give him credit for that, but he’s not a parent. None of you besides Damian call him dad and he’s constantly pinning you all against each other even if he doesn’t realize it,” then he laughs “Also what parent let’s an eleven-year-old go out of the house each night to fight crime in his underpants,” 

“Yeah Dick and Jason’s costume were pretty ridiculous,” I said parking the car in my special parking space “Let’s take the back elevator. I only need to grab some files to go over with Bruce and get back to the Manor. Also, I don’t feel like dealing with everyone,”

“Ah, billionaires and their secret elevators. A match made in the JLA headquarters,” 

I laughed as we entered the Wayne Industries car park and made our way to the elevator. Normally it would just take you straight up to the lobby but if you kicked a secret button near the left corner seven times it would take you right to Bruce’s, now mine, office. A neat trick when you're trying to avoid your co-workers as well as the paparazzi who always seemed to make it in despite top-notch security. 

My office was located at the very top of the building. Usually, the corporate elevator took forever since Wayne Industries is 75 floors but Bruce made it so his secret elevator only took a couple of seconds though it made both of us hold the railing for dear life. No matter how many times I rode I’d never get used to the speed or be able to stand up straight while staying still despite having seen both Bruce and Oliver Queen do it hundreds of times. Maybe all their billionaire jackass-ness gathered at their feet to hold them in place. Roy laughed as he tumbled out of the elevator onto my office floor. 

“Damn,” he said pulling himself up and readjusting his hat “It’s been a while since I’ve been in there,” 

“Oh yeah,” I said grabbing the files I needed off the desk “I forgot Oliver used to take you here when you were a kid…,” then I remember that he and Oliver had had some sort of falling out “Well I didn’t mean it like…” 

“You know once when I was like fifteen or something your brother made us drink a bunch of sprites and eat a shit ton of bananas only to ride this thing till we puked,” he almost made himself puke again laughing “It took like twenty-seven times for him to puke while I puked on fifteen. Owed him fifteen bucks after that but it was worth it to see the lecture the shit out of him. By the way, who even cleans this thing? You know cause it’s like secret so I doubt it’s the cleaning lady,”

“Dick?”

“Naw Jason, but damn I bet Dick could last until like a hundred with all his trapeze training,” 

“You know it would be good for my research to know what Jason was like before…. well, you know…,” 

“Before he died? Um well let’s see,” Roy said thinking and pulling out his phone, “ Just look at Jason’s old vine page. I mean even though the app died with him you can still find his old page. Don’t tell Jason I showed you this,” 

“I won’t,”

“No, I’m serious. If you do you’ll be the next dead Robin,” He says threatening to ninja star throws his phone at me “I’ll text you the link but you must save it and delete the text and then delete this conversation from your brain,” 

“Got it,” I said as I opened up a beta tube to Artemis’s current location at Roy’s house. “You know Roy, you are a great father,” 

“I’m not,” He said readjusting his cap yet again and stepping halfway through “Don’t tell Artemis but I’m letting Liam skip today if she wants and taking her to Six Flags or maybe Disney. Again don’t tell Artemis or she won’t leave an extra beta tube opener for me,” With that, he stepped through the portal and I heard a little shriek from who I assumed was Liam on the other side and I couldn’t help but smile. Even though I didn’t know Roy very well he seemed to be one of the best fathers ever despite his childhood and past problems. Roy’s little proverb “It may explain it but it doesn’t excuse it” got stuck in my head as I pondered it on the way home. 

It made me wonder how much of Bruce’s shit I’d been excusing because of his past. The only thing that he didn’t have control of was his parent’s murder and he had Alfred who raised him like his own son after that. Everything after that he’d caused and had been in control of most. I’d had no one to treat like a son after my parents were murder. That was supposed to be Bruce but Roy was right, he was a guardian and we were just his wards. He never said “good job” or barely let us skip a day of training. My experience living at the Manor had been like a boot camp but I was moving out soon. I couldn’t imagine how it had been for Dick and especially Jason. From my research and what I had gathered, Jason had never actually known what it was like having a stable family and barely remembered his dad who had been arrested when he was six. His mother had faked her death and sold him out to the Joker for money and substances only to die with him. Something inside me felt like I knew he felt guilty of that fact. Though I knew if I said anything Jason wouldn’t let me keep studying the effects of the Lazarus Pit along with figuring out why his soul came back as well. I looked over at the files in the passenger seat where Roy had been and sighed. This was the one day that hoped Bruce didn’t see me as a son but the owner of a multi-company corporation. 

I passed Daniel pulling out of the driveway in his ugly old car on the way back to the Manor. We both did a mutual wave and I said a little prayer to any higher power that his bumper didn’t fall off. Dick had sworn on getting him a cheap car in case he got into an accident as a new driver but if I was being honest the car probably boarded a bunch of safety codes and Daniel was a better driver than Dick. That may be because Dick learned to drive by driving the Batmobile out of high-speed situations but that didn’t excuse the fact that he’d gotten Daniel the worst car in history and the kid had somehow managed to be grateful. It was a spoiled thought but I knew that the kids at Gotham Academy were ruthless and in no way didn’t make fun of him when his grandfather was the richest man in the entire city and was in the top ten of the United States. I took a deep breath and entered the house.

“Dick, dude, you need to get Daniel a better car. I just saw him in the driveway and that thing is on its last life,” I laughed entering the kitchen to find Dick and Bruce in an intense staring match with files scattered all over the table. Alfred stood shadowing the doorway on the other side of the room but moved out of sight when I spotted him “Oh, is this a bad time because I got to talk to Bruce,”  
“Maybe you can talk to him about being an empathetic piece of shit!” Dick said still staring at Bruce “Or at least the fact that he doesn’t consider anybody but himself which is why he’s alone. Where’s Selina? Oh yeah, you fucked that up. When was the last time you had to be at a meeting? Almost seven months because you’re company doesn’t want your shitty leadership,” I anxiously bit my lip at his comment, “Wonder why most of the Justice League doesn’t work with you? Because you’re a fucking asshole!”

“Where is your wife, Dick,” Bruce said calmly and Dick grabbed him by the collar just like Jason had. 

“You bastard,” he said, spitting out the words “I don’t know what goes on in your little brain of yours but there’s something wrong if you think this okay. Let’s just adopt Damian out then, huh? Because it’s not because you don’t have the resources or room for another kid who could easily go with her father. I don’t know why Jason is even listening to you about this. Oh, wait I do because if not you’d have the JLA hunt him down like a dog and throw him in Arkham for good. That’s your solution to everything,”

With that, he stormed off and Bruce silently readjusted his collar “We can talk in my office,” Then he began collecting the files off the table and I caught sight of one of them. 

“Your planning on adopting Rachael out?” 

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose “Tim, I don’t want to talk about this right now. I found a good family in East Gotham who is looking for another child to take care of. I’ve verified all their information and everything. So what did you want to talk about?” 

“You can’t do that!”

“Tim…” he started but I cut him off.

“No, you can’t! Dick is right, you're slowly ruining everything you have and you don’t even see it. This is Jason’s decision and you're taking it away for him,” I blurted out getting angry “You set him off this morning which hasn’t happened in almost a year. Do you know what that means? No, you don’t because even though he’s your son, who you still convince yourself is dead and keep his suit up as a memorial, you don’t care about him and what you did to him,”

“I did nothing he made his own decisions,”

“First of all, what fourteen years old would be in the right mind after basically learning that his mom wasn’t dead and his father, yeah that’s what you were Bruce his father, had benched him,” I heard Bruce growl but kept going “It’s not entirely your fault he died but everything after is your fault. I’ve studied the way the pit works,” I handed him a file from my stack preparing to just break him the news. “The pit affects the body as much as the mind. When you set off Jason this morning, his anger was changed into pure energy, the same energy used by the Lazarus pit, and replicates the side effects. In small doses, this energy can be harnessed and even controlled to heal Jason’s body but too much speed his heart up to fast risking it to burst. But your too thick to even think about the effects or anything other than “let’s throw him in Arkham,” 

“Tim, that still doesn’t excuse,” I interrupted him again.

“Your right it doesn’t but neither does your behavior. “It may explain it but it doesn’t excuse it,” I said quoting Roy to him. Next time I saw I’d be sure to thank him for the advice. Bruce looked at the rest of my files and I took a deep breath “Besides Rachael isn’t in your custody anymore since you didn’t go through a proper agency and if you adopt her out it leaves both you and the GCPD open to a lawsuit. From my sources, she seems to know some powerful people and I can’t take that risk so I’m legally taking custody over her. She may remain at the Manor but if you make any decisions about her.. I’ll be..” I couldn’t say it. 

“Does this have something to do with Dicks comment about the company meetings?” His facial expression somehow softening after what I’d told him. After everything I’d witnessed being with both Bruce Wayne and Batman I was still surprised, “Tim, just tell me. You’ve been avoiding me and Damian for weeks and I’ve been worried,” 

I silently put the files down on the desk as the anger melted from my body. Bruce picked them up and read them over with a soft “oh”.

“The board of directors feels like you’ve been using company funds to fund personal projects too much and are starting to question your motives and… and your value. You're legally allowed to retire at your age and I can’t keep making excuses for disappearance along with the usage of company funds. I know you're using it to fund new projects and gadgets to help Gotham but I don’t think the board would just blindly accept that answer or even the truth that you're Batman. Let’s face it, Bruce Wayne is just a mask you put on and you hid behind your company but I do not think you can anymore.” 

“So what does this mean?” 

“You have three options; retire and play golf, be demoted and cut from most company benefits,” I breathed in “or come work for me,” 

“I thought you were just firing me though,” 

“I’m starting my own company,” I said, pulling out a file with a picture of Arkham Asylum along with Blackgate on the front “ A network server that plants trees whenever the user searches. To achieve this we’re wanting to work with Poison Ivy but she refuses to work under the conditions at Arkham,” 

“Tim, you suggesting working with villains,” 

“No, I’m suggesting both rehabilitation of prisoners as well as a greener Gotham. I bought Arkham Asylum last night using what I’ve made at Wayne Industries and Enterprises along with the inheritance from my parents.” 

“And what are you going to do with it?” 

“Well, there are several meetings tomorrow with different construction companies and some different,”

“And what happens if one of those happens to be on say Scarecrow or Penguin payroll. You’ll potentially lose everything,”

“That's why I need you, Bruce,” I said sighing and slumping down in his office chair. “I can’t run two major businesses that are vital to the city and start up a business on my own. It's just not possible to do and that's why you’d work on background checks and everything,”

“Do you have anyone else helping you with this business?” 

“Well, no one besides Steph, Connor, and my lawyers but... I am looking to enlist Roy Harper?”

“Roy Harper?” He cocked an eyebrow “Have you talked to Oliver Queen about this? Queen Consolidated is a big partner of Wayne Enterprises,”

“No, I haven’t even talked to Roy about it. It would mean uprooting not only his but his daughter's life. It was just a thought that occurred to me on the way over here. It’s just that from what I’ve heard he’s an amazing engineer and he could be a valuable asset to the..”

“Tim, I’m in,” Bruce said with a kind laugh as he kept looking over the files “The only reason I ask is that if Roy Harper stays in Gotham then so will Jason,”

Rachael’s POV: 

Daniel kept nervously switching the radio which for some reason made me anxious. It felt like what I was doing was inherently wrong though I was only skipping a school that wasn’t mine and bringing a rich boy along for the ride. The feeling sort of gave me an adrenaline high though truancy wasn’t a highly punishable offense.

“So where exactly are we going?” Daniel asked drumming the steering wheel “Cause I’m missing a Pre-Calc quiz because of this. I mean I was going to fail it but still,”

“Is that all you do at those fancy little schools, huh? Take tests and do multiplication,” 

“Can I ask you a personal question?” I nodded and gestured for him to shoot, “ When was the last time you went to school?” 

“Uh, last time was around sixteenth grade while in a foster home,”

“Oh,” he said quietly as I directed him to take a left turn into the city “I’m sorry,” 

After that, we drove in silence and I just observed the scenery. Gotham was a beautiful city that no one ever seemed to notice. Everyone only noticed her scares and her bad blood but never her facial structure or beauty. Tall billowing buildings that aimed to threaten the power of any savior; whether it be caped or an ideology. Gotham had not one aesthetic but a range between steampunk to even what some would consider a cottagecore vibe. There were no steams of light but only of smoke. I loved it no matter who walked the streets or what garbage was thrown aside, for no matter who you were or what education you had you were still at the hands of the spinning wheel of fate. Anything could happen to anyone under the shadows of her skyscrapers. 

“Turn right here. It’s that building,” I pointed to a brick building with a couple of work trucks outside along with a couple of men taking a cigarette break. Daniel paralleled parked between two big trucks making it look like it would be impossible to get out but I wouldn’t know. I’d never been behind the wheel of a car much less learned how to drive or steer one.

“This is certainly…. interesting,”

“Relax,” I said stepping out of the car and onto the sidewalk. “I’m only here to shower and get some cash. Then we’re going to have some fun!” 

He tried to ask me what that meant but I was already heading towards the stairs. Lola’s apartment was on the top floor but I refused to take the elevator. Something about tight spaces made me queasy and anxious. I was already sweaty enough that the steps didn’t even phase me. Daniel made sure to keep up with me. He was surprisingly athletic for his nerdy punk demeanor. 

Lola had a chalkboard sign on the door that read Building Manager along with a couple of stickers scattered randomly. For only being sixteen, Lola was majorly successful. I barely had to knock before she answered. Her hair was a deep violet that must have recently died since the last time I saw her it was white. She was decked out in costume jewelry and fishnet gloves. 

“Rachael! It’s been too long,” She laughed and tried to hug me but then backed up “Oh, girl you stink! Hop in the shower and I’ll get acquainted with the billionaire,” 

“Hi, I’m Daniel,” 

“Oh, I’m Lola! I love your hair,” 

“Thanks, my dad hates it so I’m glad someone does,” 

“Well, my dad hates me so we’ve already got so much in common. We’re going to be best friends,”

“Great. You guys should get matching best friend necklaces,” I said sarcastically pushing past into the apartment. Everything was and looked like it had been dug out from a dumpster. The walls were covered in posters from local shows as well as Lola’s artwork. My nose was overwhelmed by the different scented candles coming from a small altar in the corner of the room. It wasn’t dedicated to anyone personally but instead, it was to channel positive energies and boost manifestation. Ever since she’d met Hugo, our self-proclaimed warlock friend who traveled the world claiming to fight the evil and study his craft, she’d been obsessed with the art of magic. 

“I’m thinking rose-gold. What do you think, Daniel?” 

“I’m more of a black goth guy myself but I’m sure it will match with something in my closet,” She playfully hugged on to his arm as he grinned widely. I could tell he was having fun and liked Lola even in the first few minutes of meeting her. Lola had that effect on people, for no one could feel like a loner when she was around. 

“Go shower! You smell and the guys are already on their way,” She said leading us into the kitchen where she danced over to her teapot. It looked like a beehive with a couple of little bees on it. In her free time, Lola loved to do pottery and had practically made all the kitchenware in the apartment. “I’ll put some tea on. By the Appa has taken over your couch bed,” 

As if on cue, a furry little dog came bounding around the corner and jumped up onto Daniel’s leg. We’d found him when construction had first started. The loud noises had spooked him causing him to run under a worker’s car almost killing him. Luckily the head of the project, Frank, had noticed. Since then he’d become a permitted resident in the apartment. 

“Like from Avatar the Last Airbender? Dude, I love that show,” Daniel said reaching down to pet him. 

“Omg same! I’ll make jasmine tea like Uncle Iroh and we can discuss theories while Rachael showers,” She said leading him away “ Also Rach, remember to wash those clothes. They smell like fish,” 

I laughed as she shooed me away to show Daniel the Avatar figures she had made out of clay. Her favorite was Toph. At that moment I felt light and happy, but as soon as I stepped into the scalding hot shower all my true emotions hit me at once. Tears mixed with the water and soap as I began to relive the night at the dock. My mind tried to reason with itself that I had done the right thing but it didn’t feel like I had. 

Somewhere when I was lost in thought and shaving my legs I cut myself. There was little to no pain but it still drew blood as well as my attention. I watched it heal as if an invisible thread was pulling it closed and I was once again reminded of my curse. Whether I’d sold my soul to the devil or something more sinister, I couldn’t remember but the price was two years of my life erased. The last thing I remembered was unloading boxes from a truck. 

“Yo Rachael!” A violent pounding at the bathroom door brought me fully back to reality. It was Scotty “ I drank two liters of Mountain Dew and have to pee badly! Lola says I can’t pee in her plant,” 

“If you pee in my succulents it will kill them and I’ll kill you,” I heard Lola yell in the background. 

I quickly finished and got out. I grabbed the clothes out of the backpack Stephanie had gotten me and changed. The weird thing though is I didn’t feel like I was looking in a mirror after I had gotten dressed but instead felt like I was looking into a painting of someone completely different. Everything was changed. My hair and my clothes weren’t mine if that makes sense. I was wearing a mask but in a way, it felt like what I needed right now. 

“Whoa, you look different,” Scotty said as I exited the bathroom. “I mean it’s a good difference. Well not different but um… you look nice,” 

“Thank you!” I said as I felt myself blush. I’d put on a small amount of makeup but I felt like I hadn’t done it right and that he could have seen my cheeks flush as well as my flaws. That was all I could think of as I applied the mascara but also I kept getting déjà vu as well as got the same dizziness feeling though I didn’t think it was related “I just didn’t have any clean laundry,” 

“You look great in anything not just that I meant,” Scotty said his eyes going wide like he thought he’d done something wrong “Anyway I got you a little something to take the edge off from the other day,” he handed me a small bag and I could immediately tell what it was. Morphine. 

“You know my poison?”

“Asked around but don’t show Winn-Dixie or Alex. You might want to check on Alex and Daniel cause they’re getting close,” he said making kissing faces, starting to close the bathroom door, “I’m sure they’ll get messed up on something at the Pit. That is where we’re going, right?” 

“Yeah,” the Pit was like a giant mosh pit of rockers and punk weirdos played music 24/7. There was always someone dealing but that wasn’t the only appeal. It was dark, smoky, and there was always live music and tons of sounds. One wall was lined with stolen pinball machines and the rest were covered in graffiti. A lot of the villains, mostly the Joker’s groupies, hung out there so there was always a brawl going on that usually ended up in a mosh pit. Dark outfits were encouraged and not stand out which meant I was going to have to change. Which sort of bummed me out but also made me feel sort of sad. “I’m going to go change into something more, you know, punky. Thanks though I needed this,” 

Then I did something I never thought I’d do. I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. That wasn’t something I usually just regularly did and the second I made contact I both regretted as well as loved it. Then I ran to Lola’s room avoiding his reaction and quickly laid out a line. Something in my head was screaming that I was crazy and couldn't just kiss and run but I hadn't kissed him only pecked him lightly on the cheek. “Bet he’d hardly noticed,” my mind reasoned “He probably thought you were more annoying if anything”.

With that thought on my mind, I took a quick sniff and changed into a plain black t-shirt and some ripped jeans that were Lolas. They looked baggy on my put I just tied my hoodie around my waist to keep the pants up. For a second I felt woozy and confused but then I got a quick flash of terror. It was like I was confined and trapped. My nails felt like they were ripping out and had thousands of little splitters in the tips of my fingers. Then it was over just leaving me with a dry throat and a sinking feeling in my stomach.   
“Hey Rach, you ready to go?” Winn-Dixie said knocking on the door and I composed myself.

“Yeah, be right out,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay and that this chapter was sort of cut short but still tell me what you think! I love feedback and reading comments. School just started and it is virtual so that's why there was a delay.


	13. Day of Bliss

“Hey, are you feeling alright?” Daniel asked as my head began to cloud. A familiar feeling of not just light and airy but something foreign washed over me. Though the little “something” wasn’t actually as alien as I wanted to believe in my mind. It was normalcy, a type of normalcy that I hadn’t felt in around four years but would never admit that to anyone or even myself for that matter. Never would I admit that time wasn’t the only thing that I had lost. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. How are you doing though?” 

“This is so much fun! Though Alex did point out that the two of us would have to take a separate car. You know cus of space,”

“We all usually ride in the back of Alex’s tru-,”

Suddenly Alex appeared on my left putting an arm around my neck “Yeah, yeah. Why don’t me and Hunter, was it?” Daniel nodded and Alex smiled at him while squeezing my shoulder as a signal to shut up “Why don’t Daniel and I take his car and you guys can take my truck. Well, Winn-Dixie can drive my truck cause you can’t probably tell the gas from the break,” 

Winn-Dixie overheard and whooped well Lola elbowed him in the stomach. They started doing that whispering arguing thing before laughing then quickly glaring at each other jokingly. As we all walked out of the door Lola and I kept our distance behind Alex and Daniel to watch and giggle at them talking while Scotty and Winn-Dixie raced down the stairs. Winn-Dixie would have won but on the last flight, Scotty pretended to be injured causing Winn-Dixie to stop and try to help him. Then to Winn-Dixie’s horror, Scott jumped down the rest of the stairs declaring himself the winner before immediately complaining about his ankle. 

“Karma’s a bitch, huh?’ Lola yelled but Scotty only flipped her the bird and jogged over to Alex’s truck. 

“Dude, anyone feels like they’re doing something super illegal getting into Alex’s truck, like without him?” Scotty asked as he slid into the passenger seat “Like usually, he interrogates who’s going to sit in it beforehand much let anyone drive it especially without him,” 

“Maybe I’m just special,” Winn-Dixie joked as he put the keys into the intuition and the car began to sound like the activities room in a nursing home. 

“Or maybe Daniels the special one,’ Lola said “Alex began like ignoring all of us as soon as he walked in,” 

“Technically we got there first,” I pointed out “But they are super cute together. I ship it!” 

“What’s a ship?” Both the boys questioned but we ignored them.

“Oh my god! It’s the classic rich kid and broke boy scenario. Wait but then Daniel needs like issues to form his ark and he’s sadly not an asshole,” Lola said dreaming sighing out the window.

“Wait, you want him to be an asshole! I thought you said he was cool and what ark are you talking about?”

“Ergh, it’s a classic fan fiction move, guys, the rich kid is supposed to be a complete snarky asshole that only uses his dad’s money to buy everything; including all his friends, but he secretly hates his father. Then the broke bad boy, in this case, Alex, shows him up or something and they gradually become friends and then…. LOVERS as they both help the other through their issues, “

“How do you know they have issues?” 

“Because Alex has “ fuck u-up ” tattooed on his knuckles,”

“And Daniel had to tell his dad that his mom cheated,” I accidentally let slip in my euphoric state. We all took a moment to just stare in silence at the ark that Lola was creating until Winn-Dixie broke the silence. 

“Yeah but that doesn’t mean that doesn’t mean that he’s an asshole and besides Alex is letting me drive because I’m designated, driver,” 

“Speaking of a designated driver,’ Lola said pulling out three vials of a crystal clear liquid with a greenish hue “None for you, Dix, but here you guys go,” 

Winn-Dixie mumbled to not call him that as she passed a vial to both Scotty and me. He cautiously looked over at me as I examined it. “Okay, what is it?”

“Venom,” 

“That superhero that is like that alien that’s in love with a human,” Scotty joked but both Lola and I raised our eyebrows at him.

“Okay, you confuse me. First, you don’t know the classic rich/poor trope but then you pull out that card? Scotty, you will forever be a mystery to me but to answer your question no. It’s this new party drug some guy was trying to get Penguin to let him deal at the Lounge but of course, Penguin just stole his entire stash and, like got these guys to beat him up around back,”

“Still…seems kinda sketch and besides both Rachael and I’ve already done a line of morphine before we left so we’ll pass,’ 

“Speak for yourself,” I laughed and took a big swing of the vial. The morphine was already beginning to wear off despite only taking it half an hour ago. For some reason, everything high didn’t seem to last as long anymore. The liquid burned my throat but left a weird sensation that made me want to laugh. My eyes filled up with tears and my body felt like it constricted but only for a second. After that, I felt I wasn’t even physically there like a stranger was controlling and guiding my limbs while my brain took a break to watch “Relax, it’s not like it’s Vertigo,” 

“Oh speaking of Vertigo, do you think Bruce Wayne knows his company is supplying it?”

“Wait what?”

“Yeah, a couple of years ago Alex, Rachael, and I were working a moving gig for Penguin. The boxes were from Wayne Enterprises or were is Industries, either way, it’s the same dude, and they were filled with Vertigo. I think Penguin sold it to Black Mask when he was only like a small-time dealer with a couple of guys under him. No one knew how powerful along with addicting it was until the Black Mask began pushing it so hard. That’s what fueled his empire to the size it is. That was also the day I got my job and….” Lola stopped talking and looked over at me guiltily like she was leaving out details. My brain was too foggy with both the missing time added the Venom in my system that I just shrugged. 

“I don’t remember anymore,”

Suddenly Winn-Dixie slammed hard on the break and both Lola and I launched forward straight into the back of the front seats while Scotty slammed straight into the dashboard “Shit my nose. What the fuck?”

An infectious laugh filled the air and out of the front window, we saw a girl with half dyed red and black hair in a huge hot pink ball gown skip across the road followed by what looked like a very annoyed Poison Ivy. The princess, which I figured was no other than Harley Quinn, twirled around a telephone pole before stapling a sheet of paper to it but we were too far away to see what it was. Then she loudly put her two fingers in her mouth and whistled calling over two large hyenas with dyed hair. One had blue hair while the other had green and they both sat in front of her as she showed off her work. Ivy just rolled her eyes.   
“Harley, it looks fine,” 

“Yeah Red, but I only want the best of the best,” Her voice was high and her accent was nasally and right out of Gotham but unique to her. I could place it anywhere from the television and the few times I’d seen her in public. Honestly, I immediately became obsessed, fangirling over the confidence she displayed, her joyous laugh, and her general awesomeness. I would kill to be just like her. 

Lola tapped me excitedly “ Oh my god, I forgot to tell you! She’s building a new crew and you’d be perfect,” She rolled down the window “Harley, Harley, I’ve got a candidate for yah,” 

“Lola! What the hell are you doing?”

Winn-Dixie angrily snorted through his nose “What if she dents the truck?”

“Urgh Dix, it will be fine,” Lola rolled her eyes “And I know what I’m doing by getting you a job and a life that like not on the run all the time,”

“I’m not always on the run,” 

“Yeah, you are. HARLEY!”

Harley raised her head and began skipping over. Winn-Dixie tried to roll up the window but Scotty pinched him before he could. Ivy rolled her eyes and walked behind her with arms crossed. 

“Whatta canna do for yah babes?”

“I heard you're looking for a crew and I thought my friend here, Rachael, would be perfect for you!”

I awkwardly waved and Harley jumped excitedly up and down. “Ivy! Ivy! Our first member! Oh, we are going to be the best of the best,”

“I don’t know Harley,” Ivy said, looking skeptical, “She looks like a bit of a string bean. Got any skills?”

“Ooh actually yah,” I said finally seeing use in my ability “I like heal fast,”

“Oh great, you can heal from a strain risk in 8 weeks instead of nine,”

“8 seconds and I can regrow my finger in 10!”

Harley got a big smile on her face and began hopping up and down again “Omg that’s so cool Ivy! Show us! Show us,”

“Um… okay,” I said thinking “I don’t know what to do but..”

“Can you regrow limbs?” Ivy interrupted and I nodded fastly not wanting to upset her “My plant, Frank, is hungry and I haven’t let him eat the neighbors because I don’t want to get evicted,”

“Wait, you want her to get eaten by a man-eating plant? ” Scotty chimed in “Awesome!”

“We’re actually on to somewhere right now,” Winn-Dix said tapping the steering wheel annoyed “She can swing by your place later thought,”

“Dix, don’t be such a downer!”

“Yah Dix,” Harley mocked before breaking out laughing at her joke.

“She said at her apartment and Alex will kill me if we take his truck anywhere else,”

“There’s no need for that,” Ivy said as her eyes began to glow a dark mystic green. She curled her hands out towards a sewage drain, “Frank is right here,” 

Suddenly out of the manhole in the middle of the street came what sounded like a low groan that only grew louder by the second. Harley let out another maniacal laugh whilst Ivy’s expression only changed to a less angry smirk “No need to go out of your way, hun. If she can do what she says she can then you’ll be on your way in no time,” 

Dixie was unfazed “Rachael, I swear to god if you get blood in this car I will kill you and you will stay dead,”

“Al has some plastic bags in here! Should work probably,” Scotty offered and Harley began to excitedly jump up and down as green vines shot up out of the sewer. Then they did a midair U-turn, only to take off the whole cover by breaking through the middle of the man-hole, and out climbed what looked like Aubrey 2 on acid. A pale green venus flytrap that had pale pink chapped lips with a badly rolled blunt between them used its vines to hoist itself out of the drain. The line of honking cars that had built up behind us was silenced by the sight of the 7-foot man-eater. 

“What up Ivy? Harley, looking cute as always. Now, where’s dinner?” the plant, Frank, said whilst coughing up a cloud of smoke. 

“Yeah, we might need a bigger bag,” 

“Um… right here, I guess,” I awkwardly waved my left arm, not wanting to lose my dominant hand for an extended length of time. Two vines with eyeball-looking bulbs extended out and began to look me up and down. 

“I thought I was only allowed to eat pedophiles and the people Batman’s too busy to deal with. What did this fool do?” 

Lola, who had been ghost white and frozen in fear spoke up “What do you mean ‘the people Batman is too busy to deal with, “ 

“Yah know the crooks, dooks, and r****t. Batman is too busy running after those costumed freaks to care about the people of Gotham. I don’t particularly care but if it’s me or someone who will probably never be convicted due to a failed justice system then I’m going to start taking cooking lessons from Hannibal,”

“Heya, watch who you're talking about! As a so-called “costumed freak” I wish Batman would get off my back as well. Besides dooks ain’t even a word nor does it sound like a good made-up word,” Harley stuck her tongue out but Frank just continued, 

“Yeah, the Red Hood and I are the only ones willing to deal with these motherfuckas, like this dumbass,”

“She’s not a -right you have to stop watching those eighties cop movies when I’m not home and the Red Hood despises you,”

“Nah, he’s just not the same since that red-head came into town,”

Suddenly my mind flashed to the dudes I’d seen at Wayne Manor, one being redheaded and the other looking eerily similar to the photograph I’d seen whilst on the house tour when I first arrived. I’d just figured he was a family friend in the photo but something about Frank’s eighties rookie anti-hero speech reminded me of those two guys and how the Waynes behaved as if they were more family than friends. I interrupted Harley berating Frank about how she used to be a redhead, “Actually I’m trying out for Harley’s gang,”

“Wait, you want me to eat a loser kid that’s annoying you? So down!”   
“No,” Ivy breathed in annoyed “Just her arm to test her healing factor,” 

“Oh, okay,” Suddenly Frank grabbed me by my waist using a vine and pulled me up so I was level to his mouth. Just as he was about to bite what seemed like my head and a little extra both Ivy and Lola interrupted. 

“Only the arm!”

“Wait, that’s my top!”

“Oh yeah, throw me up the top in that bookbag.” Lola tossed up the top and I pulled it over Lola’s top before pulling hers out from underneath. Both Dixie and Scotty’s jaw dropped. 

“How'd you do that?” 

“Can you teach me?” 

Both Harley and Ivy burst out laughing while Frank mumbled something about dinner when it was barely noon. “Boys boys, almost every girl can do that and if she can’t…. Well, I don’t know but I wouldn’t be friends with her,” Harley cackled just confusing the boys even further. Ivy just put her hand on their shoulder and told them that they’d probably understand when they were older. 

“Feed me, Seymour, I’m hungry,” Frank whined and I blatantly held my left arm struggling as I looked away “Oh shit girl you were serious,”

“She swears she has a healing factor and this has already taken too long. By the time your down Batman will be here to put us all in body casts for the next sixth months,”

“Yeah, it was never fun when he did that to puddin,” Harley said swaying her arms sadly “Besides didn’t you eat Ivy’s neighbor’s kids like last week or something,”

“Two weeks actually,” Frank said, very snarky, and without warning, the plant opened his tulip-like lips to reveal three rows of sharp teeth. In a blink of an eye, he launched forward ripping the entire arm off in one bite. There was a scream, not from me but Scotty, that filled everyone’s ears and made us all jump. “Needs barbecue sauce,” 

“Can you put me down now?” I asked struggling to breathe through the vines squeezing my ribs and popping my lungs “I feel like I’m wearing a corset,”

“Oh yeah, ” he said, dropping me roughly on the pavement before scurrying off back down to the sewers without the slightest goodbye. My arm felt cold against the road but the wound had already sealed itself up leaving just a stump that just kept extending slowly. I was actually kind of sad I missed seeing it heal by itself because it wasn’t a cool process but more like watching a microwave clock change by a minute. Insignificant but when you want to see it you have to wait and if you blink you miss it. 

“Oh my god,” Scotty said with his hands on his knees and for some reason out of breath. He looked like if someone touched him he’d puke, “Please never do that again,”

“What did you think was going to happen? We’ve been sitting around talking about this for the last half-hour,” Lola said, helping me up while Harley examined the closed wound.

“I didn’t think there’d be so much blood,”

“Oh don’t be a baby,” Harley cooed sweetly and she aggressively shook my untouched hand “ You’re in! You’re hired! That was so fucking cool!”

“Sweet,” Dixie said, drumming his fingers on the wheel “What’s her payment?”

“A million dollars a week!”

“Harley, inflation and budget,”

“Oh yeah, what do you want?” 

“Um,” I desperately tried to come up with something but my mind was drawing a blank. My eyes nervously drifted towards my friends “ I don't know,” 

“Is it true that you can grow any type of plants?” Dixie asked and we all immediately got what he was thinking. Ivy, back to being bored and annoyed, nodded “Can we get some cannabis plants instead of money?”

“Are you cool with this?” Ivy asked and I nodded eagerly “Very well,” Once again, her eyes glowed green and suddenly twelve large ca in a bis plants sprouted. They began growing past full size and developed eco-friendly pots to hold the base and roots. Harley patted Ivy hard on the back saying she’d ‘finally nailed them vases’ while Ivy looked down smiling shyly. “Remember water, fertilizer, sunlight, and they enjoy Chopan,” 

“Chopan,” Alex said laughing, “Who would have thought?” 

Harley began pulling on his arm “Ever see that Parks and Rec episode where Tom keeps calling fruit by rappers names?” She started doubling over laughing while Ivy checked an imaginary watch “Ugh, we’re leaving! See you later, Ramalama, that's your new nickname,” 

“I love it!”

“Knew you would,” 

“Harley,” Ivy said as she and Dixie finished loading the plants in the bed of the truck and were furrowing their eyebrows as if the conversation had gone on for hours and hours. Harley rolled her eyes and skipped off “Okay do you remember-” 

“Got it,” Lola clapped giddily “ I love plants and have a bunch of heat laps but will get some Chopan CDs, or do you think vinyl is better? I’ll keep them in the empty room across from my apartment because it's completely done and shielded from the noise of construction. It’s my reading room… for now at least,” 

Dixie honked the truck horn and held it. The horn began dying out but his face stood still as stone. We all hurried on our way while Ivy gave a half-effort wave before chasing after Harley. We quickly circled back to set up a makeshift plant set up which Lola complained intensely about and promised all the plants, that I and she had taken the time to individually name, that she would take better care of them later. 

“You think this is going to get busted by the Batman?” Lola said frantically 

“Nah, we are in Red Hood territory,” I said walking back to the car “Bye Kirk,”

“You named the pot Kirk?” 

Daniel’s POV:

When I stumbled out of the Pit into the fresh air the immediate change of environment made me feel like I was going to puke. I’d never been drinking before and certainly had never have had that much. The only real-time I’d drunk was whenever one of the preppy himbos at my school brought a flask of vodka to any of Bruce’s fundraisers or the annual Wayne Gala. The sidewalk seemed to spin and grow closer until Alex caught my arm. I must have looked like a total loser when I smiled up at him because he only laughed and threw my arm over his shoulder to help him hoist me into the passenger seat of my car. The thought of arguing with him that I should drive passed through my head but was distinguished when Rachael climbed into the back looking completely out of it because I figured I probably looked much worse. Alex on the other hand looked fine as he started the car and began flipping through the radio channels. 

“Do you happen to have an aux cord?”

“Yeah,” I grumbled leaning my head against the cold glass window. The mirror reflected an image of Rachael completely passed out asleep in the backseat, either from exhaustion, alcohol, or a dangerous mix of the two “It’s in the console,”

“Okay cool, have any suggestions?” Alex asked whilst digging through all the extra napkins and receipts I’d shoved in there “Wait, why are there so many guitar-picks in here? Do you play?”

“Yeah, guitar but my band has me playing both lead guitar and rhythm guitar,” My mouth just kept talking and giving out my private info before my brain could stop it “And we are completely shit. It’s only because our rhythm guitarist, Ryan, quit because his mom thought it would like to install the devil into him or something. Why are all rich prep school kids weirdly religious and uncool?” 

“Not to pry but aren’t you like one of those ‘rich prep school kids”,” 

“Dude, my moms a disabled librarian, and my dad is a cop with daddy issues. They barely made the last mortgage payment. Trust me the only reason I’m in that school was that my dads an alumnus so it was easy to pay Bruce back for tuition fees and besides I’m failing out anyways,” 

He began to say how that sucked but suddenly there were flashing blue and red lights behind us. “Shit man, I didn’t realize I was speeding cause the roads are practically empty,”

“Yeah, except for the divorced cops,” Alex laughed and pulled over. The two cops got out and my heart stopped “Aw crap,”

“Why, what’s wrong,” 

Suddenly Commissioner Gordon leaned down and motioned me to roll down the passenger window “Hello Daniel,”

“Hello, Grandpa,”

Alex began to mutter a stream of explicit language while I just retained eye contact answering into a staring contest. Staring contests were the only game or contest I knew I could one hundred percent win for the only person I’d ever lost to was Wally West, Kid Flash, and I’m pretty sure he was blinking but too fast that no one saw. “You’re mother got a call from your school saying you were absent and asked me to see if I knew where you were. Wonder my surprise when I clock your car going 60 in a 45,” 

“New record, huh,” Alex said sarcastically and I snorted which my Grandfather took as a sign of disrespect. 

“What the hell are you doing hanging out with him anyway? I thought I taught you better than this,”

“Excuse me,”

“Yeah Gramps,” I challenged “Explain that statement a little better for me, will yah,” 

“Are you drunk, young man? Your parents are going to ashamed especially your mother,” 

“Pops, these days I’m pretty sure my mother isn’t ashamed of anything,” I said as I flipped him off “Go, go, go” 

Alex’s eyes got wide and he slammed on the gas. Both the Commissioner and the other cop jumped out of the way as the car jetted forward going way past 60. I grabbed the top handlebar while Alex just let out a loud whoop while the police lights faded out in the background. Rachael barely stirred. 

“Dude holy fuck! What the fuck was that?” Alex laughed whilst breathing heavily.

“Remember that disabled librarian mother? Yeah, that’s her divorced drunk dad,”

“And here I thought I had a weird family dynamic and problems,”

“Speaking of family problems,” I turned to him and got serious “Can you tell that I’m drunk?”

“Yeah, “ He said kind of deflated before filling back up “Oh I know how to quickly sober you up! There’s a little cafe like a block from here. Some black coffee and a sandwich will do you wonders,” 

It was the same cafe that Jason had taken me to earlier and we even sat at the same booth except I was drinking coffee. Straight black coffee out of a funny mug. For some reason, Jason’s coffee metaphor kept coming up to interrupt my thoughts telling me that Alex had ordered us both black coffee to send a message. Like the random and intensely metaphorical advice that I had received only hours earlier was universal. Crazy but at that moment all my thoughts were.

We were alone sitting on opposite sides of the booth having left Rachael snuggled up in the backseat with Alex’s jacket draped over her like a blanket. He cranked down the windows a bit, noting the bags under her eyes which I had failed to notice. She looked like a completely different person at that moment, not shy and drawn into her head or loud and trying to escape something bigger than her like she was a regular teenager with regular problems. There were no worries in her face until she violently rolled over ruining her serenity. 

“Hey Daniel,” Marty says taking Alex’s mug to refill and Alex raises his eyebrow “Twice in one day. Must mean you missed me,” 

“You’ve been here before? You can’t be a regular because I’m a regular. You’re not a morning regular, are you? I can’t be a morning person and especially a morning regular. Too early and should be outlawed to go anywhere before nine. It's like the phone rule,”

“No, actually today was my first time coming here and what's the phone rule?”

“He came with a hunk!”

“I came with my uncle,” Alex snorted his coffee hard out of his nose and started to violently cough. Instead of helping anything I just started laughing which started Alex laughing causing him to cough even harder, “Though I thought you knew him?’

“He’s just handsome and mysterious kind of like you,” Marty says patting Alex on the back cautiously with a disgusted look on their face “The best people are,”

“Hear that Daniel,” Alex said raising his mug at me “You are handsome,”

“No, you,” I said without thinking before probably turning twelve shades of red. Alex only laughed harder before pulling back his hair above his ear on the left side of his head. Above it was a long healed but still red scar about three inches long that had a slight curve. My mind instantly recognized it as it comes from the sharp edge of a Batarang. “Oh, shit,”

“Yeah, so handsome that Batman felt jealous,” He laughed but then it died down when he realized I wasn’t laughing “Oh it doesn’t hurt anymore and it's a good conversation starter. Besides everyone knows that Batman’s a hick.”

“Um… Yeah that Nightwing is just a stupid disco jockey,” I said strongly “Such a hypocrite,”

We both happily cheered and then the rest of the conversation flowed normally gradually switching from music to tv to whatever we could think of to extend talking to each other. Before we knew it, it was one am. The only reason we realized was that Marty announced that she was leaving and a blonde girl who looked only 4’11 relieved her of her shift. Only minutes after she came in a blonde man in a tan trench coat who was smoking a tab swaggered in to sit at the counter and started relentlessly flirting with her. My heart sank as I recognized him as we made brief eye contact. John Constantine. I’d bet anything that Bruce and Oliver had called him. 

“Oh shit,” I said aloud realizing that I’d forgotten that both Rachael and I were supposed to have had a formal dinner with the Queens that night or well last night. Constantine narrowed his eyes at me and pulled out his cell phone to no doubt text Bruce. 

“Wait what’s wrong?” Alex asked before seeing Constantine “Isn’t that guy on the Justice League? You aren’t in trouble with the JLA, are you?

“What? No,” I said, pulling out my phone to show I’d been bombarded with text messages from all branches of the family even Damian. Some were worried but most were just general threats from my dad about ending my life and selling my car “I’ve got to get home actually” 

“Oh yeah, let me drive you. I’ll take a cab home,” 

“Nah, drive my car home and I will...um…. pick it up when I see you next?” 

“How’s tomorrow?

“Tomorrow is good” I stuttered, probably blushing the shade of Wendy’s hair. “At three?”

“At three,” He confirmed, then laughed “You sure I won’t sell it for parts then, huh?”

“You’d only make like twenty bucks and I’d probably make more than the worth of the car off the insurance so good ahead,” I laughed back but he shook his head,

“Nah I want to see you again,” Rubbing his head subconsciously to cover his scar

“Good,” I smiled and he smiled back 

“Good,”

We walked out to the car together, not holding hands but our shoulders were touching, to find Rachael reading the book Steph had got her using the light from the window of the cafe. She seemed very invested and concentrated but also more at peace. With whom I didn’t know but as we drove home I caught her smiling at herself in the reflection of the window glass. Her eyes followed the moon like I’d used to do when I was five years old. Something about her new demeanor roared confidentes. It looked amazing on her. 

Alex let us out at the gate. He and I exchange an awkward goodbye while Rachael just fist-bumped him and jumped out of the car. I opened the gate and she sarcastically curtsied as I held it open for her.

“Oh my god, you two are just adorable. Like you two are perfectly awkward nerds that just work,” she did a tiny jump as we began the journey down the long driveway, 

“No way,” I denied but then figured she would know since she was friends with him, “You think?”

“I know!” She laughed and pulled excitedly on my arm “Oh my god, please tell me you guys made a plan to see each other again,”

“Yeah. tomorrow at three to get my car,” I smiled but then the bliss was broken, “What am I going to tell my dad?”

“I don’t know,” She continued laughing and bounced my arm trying to get me to join in, “Though you have like ten or fifteen minutes to figure it out because I’m pretty sure we’ve got another mile of the driveway to go,”

At that, I began cranking up. I threw my arm around her as we walked in hysterics and it occurred to me that this had been the best day I’d had in a long time. Not so much the wild dancing and loud music part but the conversations and friends I made. It usually took months for me to make a friend that I could barely talk to regularly for more than twenty minutes which usually was just about class or homework. I’d been more genuine in the last fourteen hours than I had been in a year. It felt good. I slung my arm over Rachael’s shoulders and looked down realizing that at that moment she was my best friend.

“Damn, you a little short stack of pancakes,” And with that, I took off racing her to the house as she yelled that she was going to kick out my kneecaps keeping up on heels. True bliss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated after ghosting. Sorry, but I had fun writing this chapter rather than studying for the ACT. I will try to update you in the next year because my goal is to try and be more active on here!


End file.
